This inexpensive reader collects the seventy-five most extensively taught thematic readings into a single volume that costs less than $20.

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

1. Language and Communication Richard Rodriguez, AriaMaxine Hong Kingston, SilenceGloria Anzaldua, How to Tame a Wild TongueGloria Naylor, The Meanings of a WordLeslie Marmon Silko, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian PerspectiveJoan Didion, On Keeping a NotebookDeborah Tannen, I'm Sorry, I Won't ApologizeSusan Brownmiller, Let's Put Pornography Back in the Closet George Orwell, Politics and the English Language 2. Education and Learning Frederick Douglass, Learning to Read and WriteMaya Angelou, Graduation Mike Rose, I Just Wanna Be Average bell hooks, Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education Adrienne Rich, Claiming an Education Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Whose Canon Is It, Anyway?Shelby Steele, The Recoloring of Campus LifeNeil Postman, Virtual Students, Digital Classrooms3. Culture, Race, and Ethnicity Ronald Takaki, The Harmful Myth of Asian SuperiorityZora Neale Hurston, How It Feels to Be Colored MeJames Baldwin, Notes of a Native SonBrent Staples, Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White Judith Ortiz Cofer, Casa, A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood Langston Hughes, SalvationN. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain4. Relationships and Sexual Politics Alice Walker, Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the SelfMargaret Atwood, The Female Body Ellen Goodman, A Reasonable Woman StandardCamille Paglia, Rape and Modern Sex War Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, The Making of a Divorce CultureJudy Brady, Why I [Still] Want a Wife Scott Russell Sanders, The Men We Carry In Our Minds Cornel West, On Black Fathering Anna Quindlen, Evan's Two Moms Bruno Bettleheim, CinderellaJamaica Kincaid, Girl5. Government, Power, and Justice Machiavelli, The Qualities of a PrinceThomas Jefferson, The Declaration of IndependenceElizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of SentimentsSojourner Truth, Ain't I a Woman Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a DreamHannah Arendt, Deportations from Western Europe Jonathan Swift, A Modest ProposalGeorge Orwell, Shooting an ElephantE.B. White, The Meaning of Democracy6. Economics, Work, and Consumer Culture Adam Smith, Principle of the Commercial SystemBenjamin Franklin, The Way to WealthPatricia J. Williams, Gilded Lilies and Liberal GuiltJesse Jackson, Who Makes the Clothes We Wear Studs Terkel, Mike Lefevre, Steelworker Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in AmericaRussell Baker, Work in Corporate America James Q. Wilson, Cars and Their EnemiesGloria Steinem, Sex, Lies and Advertising James Twitchell, But First, A Word from Our Sponsor Dave Barry, Red, White and Beer 7. Philosophy, Ethics, and the Value of Life Plato, Allegory of the CaveWilliam Bennett, America at Risk: Can We Survive Without Moral Values Edward Koch, Death and JusticeJames Rachels, Active and Passive EuthanasiaSallie Tisdale, We Do Abortions HereLars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving Nancy Mairs, On Being a CrippleVirginia Woolf, Death of a Moth 8. Nature, Science, and Technology Stephen Jay Gould, Darwin's Middle RoadLewis Thomas, Lives of a Cell Edward O. Wilson, Is Humanity Suicidal?Chief Seattle, Letter to President PierceTerry Tempest Williams, The Clan of One-Breasted WomenUrsula LeGuin, Those Who Walk Away From Omelas Jeremy Rifkin, The Ultimate Theraphy: Commercial Eugenics on the Eve of the Biotech Century Charles Krauthammer, Of Headless Mice and MenHoward Rheingold, The Virtual Community