The Macmillan Reader

by Nadell, Judith; Langan, John; Comodromos, Eliza A.

• ISBN13: 9780205334636
• ISBN10: 0205334636
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

Successful, and widely praised for its superior instructional apparatus and thought-provoking readings, The Macmillan Reader offers fresh examples of professional essays, separate chapters on reading and writing, detailed introductions to the patterns of development, and "before" and "after" essays for each pattern. This edition now contains 58 readings, a blend of classics and fresh new selections, chosen for their engaging and inspiring qualities. Two detailed introductory chapters discuss the reading and writing processes and illustrate the integration of these processes. Annotated essays, "before and after" versions, and commentaries illustrate the writing and revising process and highlight the kind of thinking necessary for revision. Detailed introductions to the rhetorical patterns, and uniquely thorough coverage of argumentation-persuasion includes sections on logic, refutation strategies, audience analysis, Toulmin logic, Rogerian argument, detecting bias, maintaining objectivity, and establishing common ground. Also new in this edition is coverage of c

Table of Contents

Thematic Contents	xix
Preface	xxvii
The Reading Process	1	(12)
Get an Overview of the Selection	2	(1)
Deepen Your Sense of the Selection	3	(1)
Evaluate the Selection	4	(2)
Family Counterculture	6	(7)
Ellen Goodman
Parents are told to switch the dial if they don't want their kids watching something on TV. But what should parents do if the entire culture warrants being switched off?
The Writing Process	13	(70)
Prewrite	14	(17)
Identify the Thesis	31	(6)
Support the Thesis With Evidence	37	(9)
Organize the Evidence	46	(8)
Write the First Draft	54	(15)
Revise the Essay	69	(6)
Student Essay	75	(2)
Commentary	77	(6)
Description	83	(62)
What Is Description?	83	(1)
How Description Fits Your Purpose and Audience	84	(2)
Suggestions for Using Description in an Essay	86	(4)
Student Essay	90	(2)
Commentary	92	(4)
Activities: Description	96	(2)
Flavio's Home	98	(10)
Gordon Parks
Having battled poverty and prejudice himself, writer-photographer Gordon Parks visits a Brazilian slum and finds, among the wretched thousands forgotten by the outside world, a dying yet smiling boy
In My Day	108	(8)
Russell Baker
The author visits his elderly mother in the hospital and muses on the entwining of lives within a family
Sister Flowers	116	(9)
Maya Angelou
Hidden deep within herself after the trauma of a rape, a young girl is escorted back into life by the grand lady of a small town
Once More to the Lake	125	(9)
E. B. White
Past, present, and future merge when White returns to a beloved boyhood spot
A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood	134	(9)
Judith Ortiz Cofer
With wistful affection, the author recalls the laughter and lessons of the late-afternoon gathering of women in her family
Additional Writing Topics	143	(2)
Narration	145	(52)
What Is Narration?	145	(1)
How Narration Fits Your Purpose and Audience	146	(1)
Suggestions for Using Narration in an Essay	147	(6)
Student Essay	153	(2)
Commentary	155	(3)
Activities: Narration	158	(2)
The Fourth of July	160	(7)
Audre Lorde
On a Fourth of July trip to the nation's capital, a family is confronted by an ugly truth about American life
Shooting an Elephant	167	(9)
George Orwell
The author recounts a dramatic time when, under great pressure, he acted against his better instincts
The Chase	176	(7)
Annie Dillard
On a lazy winter morning, several children throw perfectly rounded snowballs at passing cars. Suddenly, one driver leaps from his car and gives chase
Salvation	183	(5)
Langston Hughes
In the course of being ``saved'' during a revival meeting, a young boy's life is changed forever
So Tsi-Fai	188	(7)
Sophronia Liu
The tragedy of a classmate's brief, hopeless life continues, more than twenty years later, to haunt the author
Additional Writing Topics	195	(2)
Exemplification	197	(62)
What Is Exemplification?	197	(1)
How Exemplification Fits Your Purpose and Audience	198	(3)
Suggestions for Using Exemplification in an Essay	201	(5)
Student Essay	206	(2)
Commentary	208	(4)
Activities: Exemplification	212	(2)
The ``Values'' Wasteland	214	(11)
Charles Sykes
In the quest to teach kids to be broad-minded and non-judgmental, have we compromised their ability to distinguish between right and wrong? A respected journalist thinks we have
Sexism and Language	225	(9)
Alleen Pace Nilsen
Language, it seems, can be as prejudiced and unfair as people
University Days	234	(8)
James Thurber
With irony and humor, Thurber portrays college as a struggle between diligent, well-meaning profs and innocent but dense students
Bombs Bursting In Air	242	(7)
Beth Johnson
Forced to share grim news with her children, the author reflects on life's fragility-and its beauty
What I've Learned From Men	249	(7)
Barbara Ehrenreich
Do men simper, smile, and chatter aimlessly in an effort to be ``nice''? No, says the author, and neither should women
Additional Writing Topics	256	(3)
Division-Classification	259	(66)
What Is Division-Classification?	259	(2)
How Division-Classification Fits Your Purpose and Audience	261	(2)
Suggestions for Using Division-Classification in an Essay	263	(5)
Student Essay	268	(4)
Commentary	272	(3)
Activities: Division-Classification	275	(3)
Friends, Good Friends---and Such Good Friends	278	(7)
Judith Viorst
If you have a neighborhood friend, an on-the-job friend, a childhood friend, and a best friend, you'll enjoy Viorst's essay on degrees of intimacy
College Pressures	285	(11)
William Zinsser
According to Zinsser, many students concentrate almost exclusively on the practical-and miss some of the most important parts of college life
Doublespeak	296	(8)
William Lutz
What do you call language that is specifically designed not to communicate? William Lutz has a name for it-doublespeak
Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising	304	(9)
Ann McClintock
Propaganda is not just a tool of totalitarian states. American advertisers also use propaganda to get us to buy their products
But What do You Mean?	313	(10)
Deborah Tannen
Could the way women communicate on the job ever work to their disadvantage? Absolutely, says this professor of linguistics
Additional Writing Topics	323	(2)
Process Analysis	325	(64)
What Is Process Analysis?	325	(1)
How Process Analysis Fits Your Purpose and Audience	326	(2)
Suggestions for Using Process Analysis in an Essay	328	(6)
Student Essay	334	(3)
Commentary	337	(3)
Activities: Process Analysis	340	(3)
Your New Computer	343	(7)
Bill Bryson
Anyone who has ever read a computer manual, trying to figure out whether to insert the red wire into the blue slot or the blue wire into the red slot, will sympathize with Bryson's humorous exasperation
Campus Racism 101	350	(7)
Nikki Giovanni
The advice that Giovanni gives Black students for succeeding at predominantly white institutions has relevance for nonminorities, too
The American Way of Death	357	(8)
Jessica Mitford
The funeral industry says more about our attitudes toward death than we care to admit
How to Say Nothing in 500 Words	365	(15)
Paul Roberts
An English professor analyzes a student essay, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
The Fine Art of Complaining	380	(7)
Caroline Rego
Shoddy service and malfunctioning products afflict us all, but some of us complain more effectively than others
Additional Writing Topics	387	(2)
Comparison-Contrast	389	(48)
What Is Comparison-Contrast?	389	(1)
How Comparison-Contrast Fits Your Purpose and Audience	390	(1)
Suggestions for Using Comparison-Contrast in an Essay	391	(6)
Student Essay	397	(2)
Commentary	399	(4)
Activities: Comparison-Contrast	403	(2)
A Fable for Tomorrow	405	(4)
Rachel Carson
Ecologist Rachel Carson warns us that what seems like a nightmare will become all too real if we fail to protect the earth
That Lean and Hungry Look	409	(5)
Suzanne Britt
Beware the bony clutches of the thin person, says the author. Anyone who doesn't appreciate double-fudge brownies can't possibly understand the mysteries of life
Workers	414	(8)
Richard Rodriguez
A summer job teaches a college student some important things about himself and the world of work
The Ugly Truth About Beauty	422	(5)
Dave Barry
Why do men tend to be unconcerned about their appearance while women seem obsessed with how they look? Humorist Dave Barry advances an interesting theory
The Prisoner's Dilemma	427	(8)
Stephen Chapman
Which, the author asks, is a more effective approach to punishment-a few moments of pain or many years of imprisonment? You decide
Additional Writing Topics	435	(2)
Cause-Effect	437	(52)
What Is Cause-Effect?	437	(1)
How Cause-Effect Fits Your Purpose and Audience	438	(1)
Suggestions for Using Cause-Effect in an Essay	439	(8)
Student Essay	447	(2)
Commentary	449	(4)
Activities: Cause-Effect	453	(2)
Why We Crave Horror Movies	455	(5)
Stephen King
Who should know more about our appetite for horror than Stephen King? This maestro of the macabre shares his thoughts on why moviegoers eagerly pay to be terrified
Showing What is Possible	460	(7)
Jacques D'Amboise
By taking control of one's body, this celebrated dancer explains, it is possible to take control of one's life
Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self	467	(10)
Alice Walker
A disfiguring eye injury leads the author to some insights about beauty, self-image, and identity
The Lie Detector	477	(5)
Lewis Thomas
Buried deep within us, Thomas believes, is something that hates a lie
Is Technology Making Us Intimate Strangers?	482	(5)
Jonathan Coleman
Cell phones and beepers, e-mail and fax machines. We're electronically connected, every day, all day. So why, wonders Coleman, do we seem so isolated from others-and from ourselves?
Additional Writing Topics	487	(2)
Definition	489	(48)
What Is Definition?	489	(1)
How Definition Fits Your Purpose and Audience	490	(1)
Suggestions for Using Definition in an Essay	491	(4)
Student Essay	495	(3)
Commentary	498	(3)
Activities: Definition	501	(2)
Entropy	503	(6)
K. C. Cole
A noted science writer observes that disorder is the natural order of things-in her life and in the universe at large
Life as Type A	509	(7)
James Gleick
Since they were first identified in a 1959 study, ``Type A'' people-those hurried, hassled, heart-attack-prone folks-have become part of our cultural landscape. But, says Gleick, there's a problem: The study was worthless
``Mommy, What Does `Nigger' Mean?''	516	(6)
Gloria Naylor
The author contemplates the question she asked her mother as a child and arrives at a surprisingly complex answer
TV Addiction	522	(7)
Marie Winn
You don't have to abuse drugs or alcohol to be an addict. Such a label may apply if you have trouble turning off the television set
The Handicap of Definition	529	(5)
William Raspberry
Raspberry looks at the expectations that many of his fellow African-Americans have for themselves-and sees a serious problem
Additional Writing Topics	534	(3)
Argumentation-Persuasion	537	(122)
What Is Argumentation-Persuasion?	537	(1)
How Argumentation-Persuasion Fits Your Purpose and Audience	538	(5)
Suggestions for Using Argumentation-Persuasion in an Essay	543	(19)
Student Essay	562	(7)
Commentary	569	(4)
Activities: Argumentation-Persuasion	573	(3)
In Praise of the ``F'' Word	576	(5)
Mary Sherry
The fear of receiving a failing grade can go a long way toward getting the attention of non-achieving students
Let's Tell the Story of All America's Cultures	581	(6)
Yuh Ji-Yeon
In school, the author's history books taught about the settling of the West but not about the massacre of the native peoples living there; about the American belief in equality, but not about Americans denied citizenship because of their race
The Damned Human Race	587	(8)
Mark Twain
With scathing irony, this celebrated writer exposes the violent nature of the lowest creature on earth
A Modest Proposal	595	(11)
Jonathan Swift
One of the world's great satirists proposes an outrageous solution to his country's economic problems
Free Speech on Campus	606	(9)
Nat Hentoff
Are America's campuses still havens for political debate, or has the prevailing mood silenced all views except those that are ``politically correct''?
Examining an Issue: Date Rape
Rape: A Bigger Danger Than Feminists Know	615	(7)
Camille Paglia
The widespread prevalence of date rape, says the author, is evidence that feminism has failed young women
Common Decency	622	(6)
Susan Jacoby
According to Jacoby, a man who forces himself on a woman is neither misled nor confused; he's simply a rapist
Examining an Issue: Cloning
Study Cloning, Don't Ban It	628	(5)
Daniel Kevles
Although the cloning of Dolly the sheep created widespread alarm about the possibility of human cloning, the author claims that the technology will eventually become-if not common-place-at least accepted
Of Headless Mice . . . And Men	633	(5)
Charles Krauthammer
The ability to produce headless humans-not exactly alive, but possessing fully functioning organs-is within scientists' grasp. Krauthammer is horrified by the prospect
Examining an Issue: Affirmative Action
Racism has Its Privileges	638	(11)
Roger Wilkins
A longtime civil rights activist argues that the call to eliminate affirmative-action programs is rooted in wrongheaded thinking, willful ignorance, even outright lies
Affirmative Action: The Price of Preference	649	(8)
Shelby Steele
Black writer and scholar Shelby Steele describes the discomfort he experiences at the prospect of his own children being offered preferential treatment because of their color
Additional Writing Assignments	657	(2)
Combining the Patterns	659	(32)
The Patterns in Action: During the Writing Process	659	(1)
The Patterns in Action: In an Essay	660	(2)
The Death of the Moth	662	(7)
Virginia Woolf
Watching the death throes of a moth leads Woolf to wonder at the mystery of life and at the force that opposes it
Professions for Women	669	(6)
Virginia Woolf
A celebrated writer describes whom she had to kill in order to succeed in her chosen work
Where Do We Go From Here: Community or Chaos?	675	(5)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
America's most influential civil rights leader pleads eloquently for a drastic change in the way that governments pursue world peace
The World House	680	(5)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Despite revolutions in science, technology, medicine, and politics, the greatest challenge of all still faces the human race
On Going Home	685	(3)
Joan Didion
Taking her baby daughter to visit her parents, Didion contemplates the distinctions between the two places she claims as ``home.''
The Santa Ana	688	(3)
Joan Didion
Living within reach of the Santa Ana-a fierce, hot, unpredictable wind-teaches us how tenuous our hold on life can be
APPENDIX: A CONCISE GUIDE TO FINDING AND DOCUMENTING SOURCES	691	(28)
Using the Library to Find Books on Your Subject	691	(3)
Using the Library to Find Reference Works on Your Subject	694	(1)
Using the Library to Find Articles on Your Subject	695	(4)
Using the Internet to Research Your Subject	699	(6)
Documenting Sources	705	(1)
What to Document	706	(1)
How to Document	706	(5)
List of Works Cited	711	(8)
Glossary	719	(18)
Acknowledgments	737	(6)
Index	743