"In this examination of the major American journals in rhetoric and composition published between 1950 and 1990, Maureen Daly Goggin brings to light both the evolution of this discipline and many of the key individuals involved in its development. Drawing on archival and oral evidence, this history offers a comprehensive and systematic investigation of scholarly journals, the editors who directed them, and the authors who contributed to them, demonstrating the influence that publications and participants have had in the emergence of rhetoric and composition as an independent field of study."

"Goggin considers the complex struggles in which scholars and teachers engaged to stake ground and construct a professional and disciplinary identity. She identifies major debates and controversies that ignited as the discipline emerged and analyzes how the editors and contributors to the major scholarly journals helped to shape, and were, in turn, shaped by the field of rhetoric and composition."--BOOK JACKET.