The Oxford Reader offers a renewed emphasis on more traditional forms of literacy—sustained reading, writing, and thinking—which comes at a particularly urgent moment. In a world of alternative facts and fake news, the importance of a well and deeply educated citizenry is reinvigorated. Even within the multimodal classroom, many instructors have continued to introduce (or reintroduce) the modes to employ readings that direct students to read carefully, to
respond and argue cogently and accountably, and to become nimble and ready writers, no matter what they're writing. The Oxford Reader distinguishes itself by offering not only an expected mix of classic and contemporary selections, but also a variety of genres to emphasize nonfiction, without excluding some
literary works and prominent pieces from blogs and other online sources. This spectrum of voices, genres, and time periods illustrate that what is considered contemporary thinking often has its roots elsewhere.
The Oxford Reader
Description
Table of Contents
CHRONOLOGICAL CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
The Allegory of the Cave
Plato
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
A Modest Proposal (1729)
Jonathan Swift
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Cask of Amontillado (1846)
Edgar Allan Poe
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (1852)
Frederick Douglass
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Address to the Legislature of New York (1854)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Life Without Principle (1863)
Henry David Thoreau
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Advice to Youth (1882)
Mark Twain
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Necklace (1884)
Guy de Maupassant
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Shooting an Elephant (1936)
George Orwell
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
The Lottery (1948)
Shirley Jackson
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Notes of a Native Son (1955)
James Baldwin
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Excerpts from 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail' (1963)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Ballot or the Bullet (1964)
Malcolm X
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Trip to Hanoi (1968)
Susan Sontag
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Speech on Impeachment (We the People) (1974)
Barbara Jordan
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Why I Write (1976)
Joan Didion
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Split at the Root (1982)
Adrienne Rich
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space (1986)
Brent Staples
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Am I Blue? (1986)
Alice Walker
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
How to Tame a Wild Tongue, an Excerpt (1987)
Gloria Anzaldúa
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Management of Grief (1988)
Bharati Mukherjee
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Sh** First Drafts (1994)
Anne Lamott
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Secret Life of the Love Song (1999)
Nick Cave
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Waiter's Wife (1999)
Zadie Smith
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Perils of Indifference (1999)
Elie Wiesel
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Fast Food Nation, an Excerpt (2000)
Eric Schlosser
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Why We Travel (2000)
Pico Iyer
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Youth in Asia (2000)
David Sedaris
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Shooting Dad (2000)
Sarah Vowell
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Consider the Lobster (2004)
David Foster Wallace
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
1918 Influenza: The Mother of All Pandemics (2006)
Jeffrey K. Taubenberger and David M. Morens
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Is Google Making Us Stupid? (2008)
Nicholas Carr
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The Matthew Effect (2008)
Malcolm Gladwell
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Go Gentle Into That Good Night (2009)
Roger Ebert
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Assassins of the Mind (2009)
Christopher Hitchens
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Reprieve (2009)
Tim Kreider
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
A Tale of Three Coming Out Stories (2012)
Roxane Gay
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
My President Was Black (2017)
Ta-Nehisi Coates
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Going It Alone (2017)
Rahawa Haile
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
To Be, or Not to Be (2018)
Masha Gessen
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
You Owe Me an Apology (2018)
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Origin Story: Carrying Histories of Protest (2019)
Jaquira Díaz
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
The American Nightmare (2020)
Ibram X. Kendi
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
Pandemics Leave Us Forever Altered (2020)
Charles C. Mann
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine (2020)
Adrienne LaFrance
For Informal Writing
For Discussion
For Writing
WHAT'S NEW IS OLD
Author Description
Deborah H. Holdstein is Professor of English at Columbia College Chicago.
Danielle Aquiline is Professor of English at Oakton Community College.