Communication: Views from the Helm for the 21st Century

Intended to provide a ";century's end"; overview of where the entire field of communication is heading, the speeches reprinted here were given at the 1996 national convention of the Speech Communication Association. Some of the most prominent researchers active in the discipline were asked to review the state of the art in their area of specialization, to limn new areas promising for study, and to help chart the course for the further study into the next century. Commissioned by Judith S. Trent, president of the National Communication Association, the speeches reprinted here include valuable and insightful overviews from such diverse areas as interpersonal communication studies, to examinations of the volatile realms of politics and organizations, to discussions of emerging issues like gender, health, and education, to descriptions of the contributions provided by critical lenses like social theory and cultural studies. All pro