Rhetoric has become a term of abuse in contemporary America. In The Eloquent Screen: A Rhetoric of Film, Gilberto Perez reminds readers that the word describes nothing more insidious than the means by which we argue our point. The Rhetoric of Film is about how movies persuade their audience.

The Cuban-born Perez taught cultural history at Sarah Lawrence. Unlike many academics who inflict themselves on film studies, he wrote for an audience beyond his college’s merit pay-raise committee and the cultural studies conference circuit. Sadly, Perez finished The Eloquent Screen only two days before his unexpected death.

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