The interest in ancient rhetoric has increased noticeably over the past few decades and manifests itself in an ever growing number of publications. Three works published in the U.S.A. in 2005 approach the topic in quite different ways. Habinek's relatively slim book is neither meant to be a comprehensive account of nor a condensed introduction to ancient rhetoric. Rather, it is made up of five chapters ("Rhetoric and the State"; "The Figure of the Orator"; "The Craft of Rhetoric"; "Rhetoric as Acculturation"; "The Afterlife of Rhetoric") that shed light on selected aspects of ancient rhetoric from a sociological perspective; Habinek focuses on the function and role of rhetoric in the societies and states of the Greek and Roman world. On the whole, this is a useful and profitable book, despite of some weaknesses. It will, however, not replace conventional handbooks on ancient rhetoric, and it was not meant to, as is stressed by the author himself in the introduction: "Instead, the inspiration for this book is the ancient genre of protreptic [. . .], which aimed to give the reader just enough information about a subject to whet the appetite for more" (p. vii). Without a doubt, Habinek has achieved this aim. In contrast to this, the book by Laurent Pernot, translated into English "with a certain number of changes to the French text" (p. xii), offers a comprehensive, historically organized introduction to the theory and practice of ancient rhetoric. Its development is outlined in six chapters, ranging from archaic times to the third century A.D.
