Introduction 1. POPULAR CULTURE I: PERSONAL NARRATIVES: THE GOOD, THE RAD, AND THE HUMOROUS William Least Heat Moon, West Texas / Douglas Coupland, Our Parents Had More / Maya Angelou, Graduation / Alice Walker, Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self / Richard Wright, The Library Card / Lois-Ann Yamanaka, The Last Dance Is Always a Slow Dance (Short Story) / Nicole Brossard, Mauve Desert / Hethur Suval, High School Psyche-out (Student Essay) / Glen McCoy, The Vietnam War: Not Very Pretty (Student Essay) / 2. POPULAR CULTURE II: GENERATION CLASH AND THE FAMILY EXPERIENCE Dan Kwong, Grandpa Story / Scott F. Covell, Gramps / Jimmy Santiago Baca, I Ask Myself, Should I Cry? Or Laugh? (Poem) / Louise Erdrich, Grandpa Nector and the Story of June's Hanging (Short Story) / Toshio Mori, My Mother Stands on Her Head (Short Story) / N. Scott Momaday, The Last of the Kiowas / Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens / Diane Rubio, Nana (Student Essay) / 3. POPULAR CULTURE III: AMERICA AT PLAY: VEGAS, FOOTBALL, BUNGEE JUMPING, AND MORE Benjamin Saltman, The Bungee Jumpers (Poem) / Hunter S. Thompson, Selections from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / Eric Boehlert, Death in the Mosh Pit / Jerry Adler, America 2000: Fast and Furious Fun / Gretel Ehrlich, Rules of the Game: Rodeo / Philip Roth, My Baseball Years / John McMurtry, Kill 'Em! Crush 'Em! Eat 'Em Raw! / Albert Goldman, Graceland / Maxine Hong Kingston, Wittman Ah Sing's Halloween Play (Short Story) / Don Delillo, Shopping / Chris Hernandez, Waiting in Line All Night for Cure Tickets (Student Essay) / 4. POPULAR CULTURE IV: MEDIA MADNESS: SEX, VIOLENCE, AND ROCK AND ROLL Bob Dole, The U.S. Entertainment Industy Must Accept Responsibility for Its Work / Elaine Dutka, Steve Hochman, Rick Dubrow, Daniel Howard Cerone, and Robert W. Welkos, Sex, Violence, and Bob Dole / Holly Brubach, Rock and Roll Vaudeville / Jay McInerney, Is Seinfeld the Best Comedy Ever? / Bill McKibben, TV, Freedom and the Loss of Community / David Kronke, Disasters Just Waiting to Happen (Critical Movie Analysis) / Russell Gough, On Ethics, Money, and the Ending of "Maguire" (Critical Movie Analysis) / Wayne Rogers, "Ghosts" Reflects Noble Crusade (Critical Movie Analysis) / Gary Engle, What Makes Superman So Darned American? / Garry Wills, John Wayne's Body / Cynthia Paco, Superman and the Duke: Duel between American Male Icons (Student Essay) / 5. POPULAR CULTURE V: "GENERATION X": CYBERNAUTS HUNGERING FOR MORE? Lawrence Shames, The More Factor / Walter Kirn, Twentysomethings / Timothy Leary, The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot / Dave Barry, Dave Barry in Cyberspace: The Future of the Computer Revolution / Shelley Donald Coolidge, Info Highway: A Long and Winding Road / Amy Harmon, Bigots on the Net / Cindie L. Keefauver, Those Who Die with the Most Toys Lose (Student Eassy) / 6. ISSUES IN AMERICA I: CULTURE CLASH AND COMMUNITY CONSCIOUSNESS Carlos Bulosan, America Is in the Heart / Toni Morrison, A Slow Walk of Trees / Richard Rodriguez, Does America Still Exist? / Paule Marshall, From the Poets in the Kitchen / Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Living in Two Cultures / Jack G. Shaheen, The Media's Image of Arabs / Ward Churchill, The Indian Chant and the Tomahawk Chop / Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans (Poem) / Amy Tan, Four Directions (Short Story) / Christine Willis, We Are an Old-fashioned Stew (Student Essay) / 7. ISSUES IN AMERICA II: MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE LONG ROAD TO EQUALITY Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream / William Jefferson Clinton, A New Sense of Responsibility / Ishmael Reed, America: The Multinational Society / Orlando Patterson, Hidden Dangers in the Ethnic Revival / Cathleen Decker, Affirmative Action: Why Battle Erupted / John T. McGreevy, From Melting Pot to Salad Bowl / Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man / Richard Smith, Affirmative Action: Until a Fair Society Is Realized (Student Essay) / 8. ISSUES IN AMERICA III: FEMINISM AND GENDER ISSUES: CAN'T WE ALL JUST COMMUNICATE? Sandra Cisneros, Selections from The House on Mango Street / Emily Prager, Our Barbies, Ourselves / Susan Faludi, Blame It on Feminism / Paula Gunn Allen, Where I Come From Is Like This / Robin Abcarian, Pink Does Not the Girl (or Boy) Make / Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, and Conversation / Bethany Dever, Gender Roles (Student Essay) / 9. ISSUES IN AMERICA IV: POPULAR MUSIC: ROCK, RAP, AND REPRESSION Dave Barry, Parents, Children, and Music to Slaughter Cattle By / Robert Palmer, What Pop Lyrics Say to Us Today / Allan Bloom, Rock Music Has Harmed American Youth / Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2 Live Crew Decoded / Tipper Gore, Rock Music Should Be Labeled / Danny Alexander, Labeling Rock Music Leads to Repression / Jesse Katz, Rap Furor: New Evil or Old Story? / Kurt Vonnegut, A Final Word on Censorship from Kurt Vonnegut / Kathleen Santaro, Censorship Follies: Was a Victory over Ice-T a Victory over Violence? (Student Essay) / 10. ISSUES IN AMERICA V: SAVING THE PLANET AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Tom Wolfe, The Intelligent Coed's Guide to America / Carl Sagan, The Warming of the World / Kirkpatrick Sale, The Environmental Crisis Is Not Our Fault / Robert Chianese, Sustainability / Connie Koenenn, Thinking Small in a Season of Excess / Frank Clifford, The Environmental Battle Moves into the Classroom / Carl Sagan, The Nuclear Winter / Loren Stein, Bomb Ban on the Brink / Ray Bradbury, There Will Come Soft Rains (Short Story) / Linnea Saukko, How to Poison Earth (Student Essay)
