This book examines the theory, history, and practice of parrhesia—the act of speaking truth to power, when doing so is risky for the rhetor—and argues for a networked rhetorical approach to parrhesia that has not been considered previously by any other theorist. The goal of this book is to offer a reader-friendly explanation of this networked rhetorical approach to parrhesia, provide a genealogical account of the origins of parrhesia in the Classical age, and to show how parrhesia manifests today. This book is meant to give readers a functional manual for understanding, recognizing, analyzing, articulating, and using parrhesia.

Renea Frey is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and  Writing Program Director at Xavier University (Ohio, USA).