Fifty Great Essays (Penguin Academics Series)

by Diyanni, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780321261625
• ISBN10: 0321261623
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-07
• Publisher: Pearson Higher Education

Summary

KEY FEATURE:Fifty Great Essaysoffers an outstanding collection of classic and contemporary writing as part of Longman's distinguished Penguin Academic Series, sharing the low-cost, high-quality goals of the widely-admired Penguin Classics series. A wide range of essays at an affordable price, Fifty Great Essaysoffers readers an excellent introduction into the world of great essay-writing. Selections range from classic essayssuch as E.B. White's, "Beauty" and Frederick Douglass', "Learning to Read and Write" to contemporary essayssuch as Mary Wollstonecraft's, "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" and Nancy Mairs, "On Being a Cripple." General readers.

Author Biography

Robert DiYanni is Director of International Services in the Advanced Placement Program at The College Board. Dr. DiYanni, who holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York, has taught English and Humanities at a variety of institutions, including NYU, CUNY, and Harvard. He has written and edited more than two dozen books, mostly for college students of writing, literature, and humanities.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
INTRODUCTION: READING AND WRITING ESSAYS	1	(30)
History and Context	1	(4)
Pleasures of the Essay	5	(2)
Types of Essays	7	(2)
Reading Essays	9	(6)
Reading Annie Dillard's "Living Like Weasels"	10	(5)
Writing Essays	15	(14)
The Qualities of Good Writing	15	(1)
An Overview of the Writing Process	16	(1)
Planning	16	(1)
Drafting	17	(1)
Revising	18	(1)
Writing from Reading-An Example	19	(2)
Freewriting	21	(2)
Double-Column Notebook	23	(2)
Writing a Summary	25	(2)
Going Further	27	(1)
Observing Details	27	(1)
Connecting Details	28	(1)
Making Inferences	28	(1)
Arriving at an Interpretation	29	(2)
MAYA ANGELOU
Graduation	31	(13)
GLORIA ANZALDÚA
How to Tame a Wild Tongue	44	(14)
FRANCIS BACON
Of Studies	58	(3)
DAVE BARRY
Road Warrior	61	(4)
SUSAN BROWNMILLER
Femininity	65	(6)
JUDITH ORTIZ COFER
Casa: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood	71	(7)
BERNARD COOPER
Burl's	78	(11)
JOAN DIDION
Marrying Absurd	89	(5)
ANNIE DILLARD
Living Like Weasels	94	(6)
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Learning to Read and Write	100	(7)
GRETEL EHRLICH
About Men	107	(5)
RALPH ELLISON
Living with Music	112	(10)
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Arriving at Perfection	122	(5)
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.
In the Kitchen	127	(8)
ATUL GAWANDE
Crimson Tide	135	(14)
MALCOLM GLADWELL
The Tipping Point	149	(11)
ELLEN GOODMAN
The Company Man	160	(3)
MARY GORDON
More than Just a Shrine-Ellis Island	163	(6)
STEPHEN JAY GOULD
Women's Brains	169	(8)
WILLIAM HAZLITT
On the Pleasure of Hating	177	(11)
EDWARD HOAGLAND
The Courage of Turtles	188	(8)
LANGSTON HUGHES
Salvation	196	(4)
PICO IYER
Nowhere Man	200	(4)
JAMAICA KINCAID
On Seeing England for the First Time	204	(12)
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Letter from Birmingham Jail	216	(18)
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON
On Discovery	234	(3)
CHARLES LAMB
A Bachelor's Complaint	237	(7)
CHANG-RAE LEE
Corning Horne Again	244	(11)
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The Gettysburg Address	255	(2)
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
The Morals of the Prince	257	(10)
NANCY MAIRS
On Being a Cripple	267	(14)
N. SCOTT MOMADAY
The Way to Rainy Mountain	281	(7)
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
Of Smells	288	(4)
GEORGE ORWELL
Shooting an Elephant	292	(9)
CYNTHIA OZICK
The Sewn of the Snail	301	(4)
ALEXANDER PETRUNKEVITCH
The Spider and the Wasp	305	(6)
SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS
Under the Influence	311	(14)
RICHARD SELZER
The Masked Marvel's Last Toehold	325	(6)
SUSAN SONTAG
A Woman's Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source?	331	(4)
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions	335	(4)
BRENT STAPLES
Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space	339	(5)
JONATHAN SWIFT
A Modest Proposal	344	(9)
AMY TAN
Mother Tongue	353	(7)
JAMES THURBER
University Days	360	(7)
SOJOURNER TRUTH
Aren't I a Woman?	367	(3)
ALICE WALKER
Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self	370	(9)
E.B. WHITE
Once More to the Lake	379	(7)
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
A Vindication of the Rights of Women	386	(4)
VIRGINIA WOOLF
The Death of the Moth	390	(4)
RICHARD WRIGHT
Writing and Reading	394	(15)
Credits	409	(4)
Index	413