Farid, Briggs, and Colin P: Précis

Steven Schwarze argues in his publication, "Environmental Melodrama" in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, that melodrama should no longer be ignored as a rhetorical strategy, and may provide benefits by clarifying and enabling division. He does this by presenting evidence of environmentalism that shows how divisiveness is not always negative, and that within specific contexts, melodrama can be useful. The purpose of this work is to change an existing view on melodrama as a rhetorical strategy and clarify its usefulness. The intended audience of this argument is the sociology community interested in studying protest movements and the methods with which they occur, and the style of writing, structure, and method of publication allow him to establish a relationship with the audience.