This representative volume in the Studies in Rhetoric and Communication series serves the researcher and student of those disciplines well. The authors first lay out the parameters of the debates. They then apply their analysis to those debates. Finally, they offer complete transcripts of the debates themselves.

The book works on several levels. The researcher looking for a comprehensive analysis of the debates will find it. The student of rhetoric will encounter a useful portrayal of the presidential debates with a methodology for study. Finally, someone seeking a history of the debates will appreciate the transcripts, along with the analytical tools present in the same volume to make good use of the transcripts. Since this reviewer is a practicing attorney and not formally trained in rhetoric, it was a learning experience to study the book. This reviewer's initial interest in the book was for its value as a history, but the comparisons of persuasive attack and persuasive defense provided new incites which might prove useful in a court of law.

The chapter entitled "A Theory of Persuasive Attack," (p.29) is probably the most useful to someone outside the field of formal rhetoric. The next pages read as if the author were describing various trial strategies. Representative samples of these strategies are described. The first strategy is to increase negative perceptions of an action. A plaintiff's lawyer often attempts to paint the defendant as negatively as possible, striving to portray the opposition's actions as bad in themselves. The second strategy is to assign responsibility for the action. The authors point out that society holds an intended wrong in lower regard than an accidental bad act. Similarly if there is a benefit to the actor, the audience is less likely to accept the criticized behavior.

The opposite of Persuasive Attack is, of course, Persuasive Defense. The authors present the defense side as one of image restoration (p.41). They catalog in some detail five defense strategies. The first two strategies of defense attempt to deny or reduce the accused person's responsibility for the action in question. The next two strategies are to reduce the offensiveness of the action or to correct it in some way. The final strategy is to admit the act and seek forgiveness. Each of these strategies is described in detail in the book.

Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the use of Persuasive Attack and Persuasive Defense in the 1992 presidential debates. The authors point out the problems that President Bush had with the recession issue immediately prior to the election, which placed him in a defensive position. A reader will note from the analysis that Governor Clinton was able to attack the incumbent's record and thus force Bush to defend his administration. Perot also attacked the administration although he offered few solutions for the problems he identified. Then, in Chapter 5 the authors note the skill with which each candidate used the strategies available to him.