Basic writing, which developed as a field within the larger discipline of rhetoric and composition, has a tumultuous past and an uncertain future. What began as an academic response to a perceived literacy crisis with the rise of open admissions in the late 1960s has continued to grow and reinvent its structures, theories, and practices as new waves of incoming students have continued to enroll in institutions of higher education in ever-increasing numbers. While the field's history, research projects, theoretical developments, and textbooks have received some individual attention, no comprehensive historical view exists of how basic writing's theories and pedagogical materials have developed alongside each other since the late 1970s. By identifying where the practices of basic writing may have differed from its theories, this study provides a historical map of the field and explores the implications for current and future basic writing scholars and practitioners. Three historical analyses provide the backdrop for investigating the overlaps and gaps between the field's theories and practices. The first is an analysis of the field's general development, both as the largely unacknowledged force behind the founding of rhetoric and composition as a discipline within English departments and as a field in its own right after the rise of open admissions. The second is an examination of the field's scholarly developments from 1980 to 2010, with an emphasis on the central "Journal of Basic Writing." The third is an evaluation of the field's textbook offerings from that same period. What these analyses reveal is that, despite some innovative structures for basic writing programs that have appeared since the mid-1990s, the field's theories have not been sufficiently reflected in the available textbooks. Furthermore, the scholarship in the field appears to have stalled since the mid-1990s, with less dialogic communication between scholars appearing in journals and monographs. Ultimately, basic writing, by realigning and reinvigorating its theories and practices, could reposition itself, moving from rhetoric and composition's peripheral academic cousin to its pedagogical center. Given basic writing's history, its scholars are uniquely positioned to offer colleagues and students productive, rhetorical paths forward. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]