Speculations Readings in Culture, Identity and Values

by Schuster, Charles I.; Van Pelt, William V.

• ISBN13: 9780134422947
• ISBN10: 0134422945
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-01-02
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Representing the diversity of American intellectual life, this collection of readings by some of today's most prominent authors focuses on contemporary issues and grows out of a multiculturalist approach, with selections that exam ine, analyze, and question today's culture and cultural events. Substantially revised based on extensive reader and reviewer survey, the book comes with more than half of the readings new to this edition. Now offers over 50% more selections; Addresses significant and provocative themes for readers to discuss, read about, and write about, such as affirmative action, children and the media, gay/lesbian rights, date rape, and family values. For those interested in composition.

Table of Contents

1. Growing Up.

Jamaica Kincaid, Girl. Amy Tan, Two Kinds. David Elkind, Childhood's End. Jonathan Kozol, Rachel and Her Children. Toni Cade Bambara, The Lesson. Leon Bing, When You're a Crip (or a Blood). Focus on Video and Violence. Susan Douglas, Where the Girls Are. Elayne Rapping, In Praise of Roseanne. Carl Cannon, Honey, I Warped the Kids. Michael Krasny, Passing the Buck in Tinseltown. Mike Males, Public Enemy Number One . John Leonard, TV and the Decline of Civilization.

2. Music and Morality.

Alan Bloom, Music. Barbara Dorrity, The War on Rock and Rap Music. Marion Meade, The Degradation of Women. Elysa Gardner, Tori Amos Keeps Her Head. Tori Amos, Crucify. Tori Amos, Me and a Gun. Donna Gaines, Suicidal Tendencies: Kurt Did Not Die for You. Focus on Rap Music and Social Responsibility. Jerry Adler, The Rap Attitude Arthur Lawrence Cribb, Jr., Gangsta Rappers Sing White Racists' Tune. Francis Davis, Vox Populi. bell hooks, Gangsta Culture—Sexism, Mysogyny. Venise Berry, Redeeming the Rap Music Experience.

3. Crime and Punishment.

Jessica Mitford, The Criminal Type. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail. Clarence Darrow, Crime and Criminals: Address to the Prisoners in the Cook County Jail. Malcolm X, Hustler. Rick Telander, Senseless Crimes. Kimberly Wozencraft, Notes from the Country Club. Focus on Date Rape. Ellen Sweet, Date Rape: The Story of an Epidemic and Those Who Deny It. Camille Paglia, Rape and Modern Sex War. Katie Roiphe, Date Rape's Other Victim. Katharine Greider, Victor Feminism. Mary Gaitskill, On Not Being a Victim.

4. Gender Matters.

Maxine Hong Kingston, No Name Woman. Nina Berman, Disappearing Acts. Naomi Wolfe, Hunger: A Feminist Critique. Ben Greenstein, Learning to be Superior. Brent Staples, Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space. Peter Lyman, The Fraternal Bond as a Joking Relationship. Focus on Gay/Lesbian Identities. Warren Blumenfeld and Diane Raymond, Homophobia and Heterosexism. Martin Duberman, A Matter of Difference. Audre Lorde, Lesbian Parenting 1986. James B. Stewart, Gentleman's Agreement. Randy Shilts, The 'Copy' Berg Story.

5. Struggling toward Success.

Barbara Garson, McDonald's—We Do It All for You. Roger Swardson, Greetings from the Electronic Plantation. Studs Terkel, Mike LeFevre, Steelworker. Susan Faludi, The Wages of Backlash: The Toll on Working Women. Susan Fraker, Why Women Aren't Getting to the Top. Focus on Opportunity and Otherness. Andrew Hacker, Being Black in America. Stephen Carter, The Best Black. Ellis Cose, Affirmative Action and the Dilemma of the 'Qualified'. Myron Magnet, Race and Reparations. Richard Rodriguez, Complexion.

Acknowledgments.
Index of Authors and Titles.