Highlighting purpose and personality in the teaching of public speaking, Speech Craft is unique because of:

• The author: Joshua Gunn, The University of Texas at Austin, is an award-winning teacher and highly regarded scholar known for his research on human representation, self-understanding, and self-fashioning.
• The tone: Full of vivid, high-energy, and inclusive examples that cover traditional and important new speech topics, Speech Craft draws on history, pop culture and personal experience.
• The scholarship: Rooting students in the classical history of speech instruction, Speech Craft takes the discipline seriously without ever feeling boring. A solid underpinning of  research and theory across Rhetoric, Communication and Social Science allows students to access the core tenets of public speaking.
• The look: A hip, bright, and visually engaging design offers students an accessible layout and one-of-a-kind illustrations that work pedagogically with the text to reinforce concepts.

A focus on public speaking for the community -- personal, local, career. Speech Craft helps students understand that, at its core, meaningful public speaking is about making an ethical connection with the audience and deepening relationships within the local community. It's rare to give a formal speech to thousands of people at a political event. It's more common to give a toast to 100 people at a sibling's wedding or present information at a local community event, club, or business meeting. Thus, Speech Craft starts local. It covers in depth all the traditional speeches taught in the course, like informative and persuasive, while also emphasizing speeches that students are more likely to give in their lives, like toasts, celebratory speeches, eulogies, or speeches to small groups at work or in town. No matter the speech, students learn how to strengthen community bonds through audience analysis, ethical listening, and more.

A unique chapter – Chapter 19 Speaking for Social Change – shows how speaking for social change connects speakers to their communities. This capstone chapter takes students from the personal and community-based focus toward the possibility of using their newly confident voices for civic engagement. The history of activism is presented through examples like Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat, to the protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Engaging pedagogy helps students apply what they’re learning.

• “You will learn to” boxes focus on specific learning objectives.
• Innovative visual summaries offer quick  review at the end of each chapter.
• Digital Dives, the multi-media features in each chapter, are extended in Achieve to allow students to listen to a podcast or watch a video clip, and then answer critical thinking questions.
• Sample annotated speeches and professionally shot videos and clips provide thorough examples in areas like personal, informative, persuasive, and online speeches; speech concepts in action; needs improvement examples; and more.
• End-of-chapter reviews help students strengthen their understanding, with engaging activities to practice new skills.

Speech Craft is aligned with the National Communication Association’s learning outcomes. The book’s handy guide showcases the correlation up front and makes it easy to adapt the book to school’s specific initiatives.

The new Achieve courseware for Speech Craft sets the standard for driving student learning in your public speaking course. Achieve brings together an interactive e-textbook; 3 new Achieve-only modules on  presenting online using tips learned during the pandemic era, avoiding the dangers of disinformation when researching a speech, and being inclusive in online presentations; Digital Dives; speech videos; LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and other assessments; learning activities; and extensive instructor resources – all within a new, enhanced technology platform carefully built over the past five years.