The Best American Essays

Unrivaled in the high quality of its selections, this contemporary reader presents 36 diverse and provocative essays drawn from the widely respected Houghton Mifflin/Ticknor & Fields "Best American Essays series. A thoughtful introduction by Atwan on the essay and additional reflections on the genre by famous essayists provide students with a solid foundation. Biographical notes and brief questions for discussion or written response accompany each reading, and an Instructor' s Resource Manual offers additional pedagogical tools. The book' s organization reflects the types of writing most often taught in introductory writing courses--personal, informative, and argumentative--and selections within those categories reflect many of the issues that currently enliven campus discussion and debate. Two alternative organizations feature arrangement by 10 traditional rhetorical methods and a topical grouping that links essays to current issues for argument and debate.