Review: Democracies to Come: Rhetorical Action, Neoliberalism, and Communities of Resistance

Community literacy workers and publicly engaged teachers of writing have long been concerned with questions not only of learning and writing, but also of social change, equity, and justice. Whether we trace roots through Myles Horton’s Highlander School to critical pedagogy and activism (Branch) or through more institutionally focused efforts of land-grant colleges and organizations such as Campus Compact, our collective efforts have taken us out of campus spaces into surrounding local communities to write and learn with others. In Democracies to Come, Rachel Riedner and Kevin Mahoney give educators and activists a critical pedagogy and set of rhetorical tools that move “into broader contexts of democratic struggle, extending well beyond and across the classroom walls of academe” (4).