The field of communication studies probably contains hundreds of books addressing interpersonal communication. This book is different, however. This book on interpersonal communication follows in the spirit of Kenneth Burke's "Representative Anecdote," or in the spirit of a social scientific case study in terms of representative cases. Modestly stated, anecdotes can be real or hypothetical, perhaps depictions, descriptions, or stories. Anecdotes can be fictitious but literal and believable enough to produce insights into the complexities of human beings.
Each chapter considers interpersonal communication by presenting a scenario within a context before interpreting and explaining the interpersonal communication. Then each chapter provides advice in forms such as lessons learned, takeaways, or other kinds of advice. The scenarios function in the first sections of each chapter as parts of the whole. As a whole, the chapters are representative anecdotes.
This book does not lean toward theory construction or theoretical discussion. This book leans more toward the application of interpersonal communication theory within a context. The reader will see how interpersonal communication theories are "working" in scenarios within contexts; and again, the scenarios, interpretations, and advice function together as representative anecdotes.