Classicists, most from the US, offer a guide to the oratory and rhetoric of Roman writer Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). They hope to provide neophytes a starting point, veterans a place to renew old and new dialogues, and generally a site of engagement at various levels with Ciceronian scholarship and bibliography. The 17 studies are basically arranged chronologically, though some address particular themes. The topics include Cicero's life and career, his early speeches, his invective, the lost and fragmentary orations, the intellectual background of his rhetorical works, Orator and the definition of the ideal orator, and selected recent work on his rhetoric and speeches. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)