ISBN: 978-0271019000 1.01 pounds 216 pages 6 x 0.78 x 9 inches Penn State University Press; First Edition (December 1, 1999) Synopsis: Americans of the early Republic valued the art of eloquence, upholding the ideal that an impassioned, intelligent, and moral speaker will provide essential truths to a democratic audience. Drawing on nonfiction prose of the 1830s–1850s―especially orations, lectures, and addresses―James Perrin Warren sketches a cultural history of the reforming power of language.