RESEARCH INTERESTS
I’m an expert in political rhetoric and popular discourse, which means I study how people argue about politics in public. At the broadest level, my research investigates how people use language and symbols to define their values and shape their communities. This work requires studying both how people use language and symbols, but also the contexts in which such language and symbols work (or don’t).
As a consequence I have researched and written across a wide variety of topics ranging from contemporary political memes to best practices in teaching writing, from grad student mentoring to bureaucracy in the Third Reich, from Ancient Greek philosophy to 19th century American education to 21st century global politics. In each case, my work to anchored in rhetorical and historical methods for investigating speakers, audiences, and contexts.
My current research focuses primarily on authoritarian rhetoric, demagoguery, and democracy—especially related to Nazis and fascists. Since 2017, I have been increasingly interested in how charismatic leaders like Adolf Hitler have used demagogic rhetoric to cultivate fanatical political support in their extreme efforts to destroy democracies from the inside.
Given my investment in public discourse, I am committed to practicing rhetoric in public. As such, I’m an SJSU faculty media expert in political speech, politics, and rhetoric. I write as often as possible for popular outlets. And I also regularly give talks and run workshops about rhetoric and writing for academic and non-academic audiences.
To learn more about my work, visit my Popular Press and Curriculum Vitae pages.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
“‘As Long as There’s Fire,’ with Apologies to David Bowie”
Composition Studies
2025
“Root Causes and Structural Problems; or, Why ‘Current Trends’ in English PhDs Are More Than Seventy Years Old”
ADE Bulletin
2024
“Why Are There So Many English PhDs, Anyway?“
College English
2023
“Sleuthing Towards Bethlehem: Hitler’s Theory of Reading & Learning, & the Enduring Appeals of Confirmation Bias”
The Charge for Change
Parlor Press
2023
“Teaching Literature as Equipment for Living Democratically”
Routledge Companion to Literature & Social Justice
Routledge
2023
BOOKS / SPECIAL ISSUES
Hitler’s Rhetorical Playbook: Persuasive Strategies for Tyranny and Genocide (University of Tennessee Press, forthcoming 2027)
Rhetoric & Guns. Edited by Lydia Wilkes, Nate Kreuter, & Ryan Skinnell (Utah State University Press, 2022)
Reinventing (with) Theory in Rhetoric & Writing Studies: Essays in Honor of Sharon Crowley. Edited by Andrea Alden, Kendall Gerdes, Judy Holiday, & Ryan Skinnell (Utah State University Press, 2019)
Rhetoric’s Demagogue | Demagoguery’s Rhetoric. Edited by Ryan Skinnell & Jillian Murphy. Special Issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 49, no .3, 2019.
Faking the News: What Rhetoric Can Teach Us About Donald J. Trump. Edited by Ryan Skinnell (Societas Books, 2018)
Bureaucracy: A Love Story. Edited by Gabriel Cervantes, Dahlia Porter, Ryan Skinnell, & Kelly Wisecup (Aquiline Books, 2018)
Conceding Composition: A Crooked History of Composition’s Institutional Fortunes (Utah State University Press, 2016)
What We Wish We’d Known: Negotiating Graduate School. Edited by Ryan Skinnell, Judy Holiday, & Christine Vassett (Fountainhead Press, 2015)
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
“[James] Baldwin’s Reluctant Optimism as a Source of Rhetorical Power.” Rhetoric Society of America, May 2026
“Less Human than Human: How Appeals to ‘Natural’ Hierarchies Powered the Holocaust.” Rhetoric Society of America, May 2026
“Magical Hitler; Or, a Rhetoric Problem of Global Proportions.” Illinois State University, Apr. 2026
“Why I Write.” Appalachian State University, Feb. 2026
“The Führer’s Rhetorical Finishing School.” Int’l Society for the History of Rhetoric, Jul. 2025
“Weimar’s Rhetorical Revival & Its Lessons for the Digital Age.” Rhetoric Society of Europe, Jun. 2025
Dr. Ryan Skinnell 