The Contemporary Reader

by Goshgarian, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780321083425
• ISBN10: 0321083423
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

The Contemporary Reader reader includes more contemporary selections than any other popular culture reader on the market with over 90% of the readings written in the last five years. The text's ten tightly focused thematic chapters cover a range of writing on interesting issues familiar to students and relevant to our times." Readings are organized around a variety of appealing, thought-provoking themes such as " Fashion and Flesh: The Images We Project, " " Advertising: Wanting It, Selling It, " " On the Cutting Edge of Science: Human Cloning and Genetic Engineering, " " Making the Grade: Education Today, " " Gender Perceptions, " and " The American Experience."

Table of Contents

Preface.

Introduction.

Reading Critically.
What is Critical Thinking?
Why Read Critically?
How to Read Critically?
Sample Essay for Analysis: A No Fault Holocaust, John Leo.

Keep a Journal on What You Read.
Annotate What You Read.
Outline What You Read.
Summarize What You Read.
Question What You Read.
Analyze What You Read.

Writing Critically.
What is Critical Writing?
Developing Ideas.
Narrowing the Topic.
Identifying Your Audience.
Developing a Thesis.
Understanding Your Paper's Objective.
Researching.
Selecting Sources for Your Paper.
Documenting Sources.
Organizing Your Paper.
Drafting Your Essay.
Writing Your Introduction.
Developing Paragraphs and Making Transitions.
Concluding Well.
Editing and Revising.
Using Active Voice.
Grammar and Punctuation.
Proofreading Effectively.

1: Fashion and Flesh—The Images We Project.

An Image to Heal, Jill S. Zimmerman.

Never Too Buff, John Cloud reporting on The Adonis Complex.

My Hips, My Caderas, Alisa Valdes.

Hold That Nose, Lisa Miya-Jervis.

The Bald Individualist, Ptolemy Tompkins.

Believers in Search of Piercing Insight, D. James Romero.

I Don't Like What You're Wearing, David Updike.
International Perspectives.

East Meets West, Kuni Takahashi and Stephanie Schorow.
Viewpoints.

A Man's Guide to Slimming Couture: Or, 8 Tricks to Hide a Pot Belly, Scott McKeen.

Why Do We Get To Laugh at Fat Guy's?, Catherine Lawson.

Discrimination at Large, Jennifer A. Coleman.

2: Advertising—Wanting it, Selling it.

Targeting a New World, Joseph Turow.

Ad Ventures, Eric Effron.

The Tyranny of “Abercrappie” , Damien Cave.

Hey Kids, Buy This!, David Leonhart and Kathleen Kerwin.

Women Are Easy, Mark Boal.

Manufacturing Desire, Harry Flood.

Sample Advertisements, Palm Pilot, M&Ms, Apple Computer, Milk-Pokeman, Altoids, Yahoo, Saturn, Shreve, Crump & Low, Absolute Vodka.
International Perspectives.
Advertisements from Germany.
Viewpoints.

The Language of Advertising (updated for 2000), Charles A. O'Neill.

With These Words, I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz.

3: Television: For Better or For Worse.

Screen II: The Invasion of the Attention Snatchers, Paul McCormack.

TV's War of Words, Deborah Tannen.

Can Television Improve Us?, Jane Rosenzweig.

How to Raise a Media Skeptic, Susan Douglas.

The Man Who Counts the Killings, Scott Stossel.

Stop Blaming Kids and TV, Mike Males.

Neil Postman and Steve Powers, How to Watch TV News.
International Perspectives.

Paradise Lost: Fijans, American Television, and Eating Disorders, Amy O'Connor.
Viewpoints.

AAP Press Release: AAP Discourages Television for Very Young Children.

American Academy of Pediatrics, August 2, 1999.

TV Can Be A Good Parent, Ariel Gore.

4: Young and Criminal?

Children as the Enemy, Peter Elikann.

Students Have Always Been Violent, David Greenberg.

Adult Crime, Adult Time, Linda Collier.

The Crackdown on Kids, Annette Fuentes.

When a Gangsta Goes to College, Sean Flynn.

Violent Culture: The Media, the Internet, and Placing the Blame, Darren Beals (Student paper).
International Perspectives.

Yemen Bans Teen Death Penalty, Scott Peterson.
Viewpoints.

Games Don't Kill People—Do they?, Greg Costikyan.

The Trigger Principle, Mark Pesce.

5: Humans Inc.: Revolutionizing, Rethinking and Retailing Reproduction.

Human Harvest, Lisa Gerson.

Designer Babies, Sharon Begley.

Small Wonders, Phyllis L. Fagell.

How Old is Too Old to Have a Baby?, Judith Newman.

I Donated My Eggs for Money, Francesca Cimino.

Possible Inclusion: Why I Won't Donate My Sperm for Money, Joe Student (Student paper).
International Perspectives.

Take it to the Bank, Jeff Stryker.
Viewpoints.

Health Update: Human Cloning, Diane M. Yokam.

White House Press Release: Cloning Prohibition Act of 1997.

Human Cloning? Don't Just Say No, Ruth Macklin.

6: The Family in Flux.

Family: Idea, Institution, and Controversy, Betty G. Farrell.

The New Nostalgia, Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers.

Single Mothers, Menace to Society?, Stephanie Coontz.

Babes in Arms, Ilene Chaykin.

My Long Distance Life, Nick Sheff.

Working Dads, Unite!, Joel Achenbach.

Taking Care of Aging Parents, Cathy Booth.
International Perspectives.

Confucius Said, “Sons, Care for Your Parents,” Parents Say, “We Sue” , Leslie Chang.
Viewpoints.

Let Gays Marry, Andrew Sullivan.

Who Says Banning Gay Marriage is Immoral?, Jeff Jacoby.

Cartoon: Wasserman's View, “Assault on Family Values.”

7: It's a Wide Web World.

(Cover: Peter Steiner cartoon, New Yorker, 1994).

The Virtual Community (repeat), Howard Rheingold.

Online and Bummed Out, Jerry Adler.

Can a Body Meet a Body Coming Through the Wire?, Chet Raymo.

Identity in the Age of the Internet, Sherry Turkel.

Come in CQ, Ellen Ullman.

Going Postal, Tony Schwartz.

My Brave New E-Boys, Eric Effron.
International Perspectives.

A Great Leap, Thomas Sancton.
Viewpoints.

The Unwanted Gaze: Privacy and the Internet, Jeffrey Rosen.

Privacy for Sale: Peddling Data on the Internet, Andrew L. Shapiro.

8: Sports: Not Just a Game.

Youth Sports Penalty Box (cartoon on frontispiece), Dan Wasserman.

Sports Centered, Jay Weiner.

Where are the Heros?, Ed Siegel.

Take Me Out of Their Ball Game, Marial Guhde Keri.

Making the Cut, Teri Bostian.

Where the Boys Are, Cathy Young.

Unpaid Professionals, Andrew Zimbalist.
International Perspectives.

We Have Always Behaved Like Soccer Thugs, Jeremy Paxman.
Viewpoints.

Naïve Court Didn't Go Far Enough with Drug Testing, Claude Lewis.

Just Say No to Random Drug Testing, David Rocah.

9: Gender Battles on the Big Screen.

Brave Dames and Wimpettes, Susan Issacs.

Out in the Cold, Neal King, Heroes in Hard Times: Cop Action Movies in the U.S., 1999.

Girls in Trouble Again, Susan Fuchs.

The Don Juan Syndrome, Julia Chapa.

Honor they Daughter, Jenn Shreve.
International Perspectives.

The Politics of Being Mast: Are Women Just Mohras in Indian Cinema?, Amitabha Bagchi.
Viewpoints.

Primal Stuff, Stanley Kauffmann.

It's Thelma and Louise for Guys, Susan Faludi.

The Emasculation Proclamation, Joel Stein.

10: Generation Gaps: Boomers, X-ers, and Y,.

How You Can Tell Which Generation is Yours, Richard Polito.

The Internet and Motherhood, Gen-X and the Millenials, Kevin W. Johansen.

An Early History of the Boomers, Dave Barry.

Generation Ex, Eric Weisbard.

Where Have All the Causes Gone?, Jon Meacham.

Marketing to Generation Y, Ellen Neuborne.

Generation Y's First Vote, Howard Fineman.
International Perspectives.

Bridging the Generation Gap, Kadir Jasin.
Viewpoints.

Military Uses Net to Get Connected with Gen Y, Dave Moniz.

Uncle Sam Wants You...To Have Fun!, Diane Brady.
Advertisement: Army.