Popular Writing in America
The Interaction of Style and Audience
5th Edition
Published on 24. June 1993
Book
Paperback/Softback
784 pages
978-0-19-507308-9 (ISBN)
Description
Popular Writing in America provides composition students with models of strategies and techniques in writing effective prose. It shows the interaction of style and audience by drawing texts from advertising, the press, popular magazines, best sellers, classics, film, and television, and illustrates how a particular medium and its presumed audience affect a writer's style. For the fifth edition the editors have introduced new material, making a particular effort to address controversial issues that have arisen in the past few years. New selections range from magazine advertising directed towards individuals, from AIDS to multi-media treatments of the Gulf War, to a script taken from the television sitcom, 'Roseanne'. An extensive press section offers recent views on the explosive censorship debate over the case of 2 Live Crew, as well as an aside on the phenomenon of PC. The changing status of women in America, as affected by such events as the Clarence Thomas hearings and the abortion controversy, is also covered.
Reviews / Votes
"Excellent book for showing which texts 'work' in popular resources."--Cynthia Ryan, University of Alabama at Birmingham"One of the best texts available in terms of writing examples and cultural relevance. My favorite qualities include the historical comparisons that are possible and the variety of genres featured."--Brett Foster, Eastern Nazarene College
"I am particularly pleased with the diverse and historical approach to American culture."--Michele Molk, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
"Very well done! Certainly a positive for all students. Not to be missed. The readings on the Press are exceptional."--Ed Rooney, Loyola University
"This is an excellent and varied collection of readings that we are likely to put on the adoption list for our sophomore-level Topics in Writing course."--Christy Friend, University of Texas at Austin
"An excellent introduction to non-academic writing in the United States for both readers and writers."--Tom Carpenter, University of Arkansas at Monticello
"An excellent text that in its fifth edition has become more comprehensive and diverse and, therefore, even more timely."--Donald Gilzinger, Suffolk Community College
"An exciting and unusual mix of texts, unusual because the book offers words caught in the process, not of composition, but of living, as writers struggle to attract, inform and amuse readers, to shake them, basically, out of their inattentive doldrums and feel their words."--Anthony DiMattio, New York Institute of Technology
"The best reference book that I've seen to inform our international communications majors about our American culture."--Robert W. Larson, Pittsburg University
"Well structured use of advertising issues."--Cassandra Reese, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
"Thought-provoking and well organized. Excellent for a broad-based approach to writing."--Joseph Basso, University of South Dakota
"Have used earlier edition--always thought the choice of selections was excellent--VERY well considered."--M. Kramer, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
"Varied collection--good visual samples--seems eminently appropriate for the course."--Luanne C. Lea, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
"Excellent variety of 'styles' and sources. I especially like assigning the linked selections."--Sara Burroughs, Northwestern State University
"By far the most comprehensive selection of popular writing in America, spanning some unusual formats. The selections are also up to date in terms of popular themes and issues at broader societal levels."--Dilnawaz A. Siddiqui, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
"The best popular writing volume on the market."--John Cox, University of Arizona
"It's fantastic! A tremendous resource that crosses disciplines of communications, English, anthropology, business/marketing. Very impressive."--Lucy Edwards, Incarnate Word College
"An outstanding text....I enjoyed it very much."--Michael F. Pandich, North Carolina State University
"Super for my advanced writing course for journalism majors!"--Sara Burroughs, Northwestern State University
"Exellent samples of writing."--Wanda Mouton, Stephen F. Austin State University
"Outstanding!!"--Edmund J. Rooney, Loyola University
"A successful undergraduate composition text...there is a genuine wealth of perspectives in this collection, spanning writers as varied as Allan Bloom, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., P.T. Barnum, Stephen King, Randy Shilts, Susan Faludi, Toni Morrison, N. Scott Momaday, Orson Welles, etc..."--Communication Booknotes
"Excellent collection of modern modes of popular writing. The ad copy and scripts for radio and television are especially welcome additions to writing-course literature."--Dan Streibel, University of Wisconsin
More details
Edition
5th edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
halftones
Dimensions
Height: 272 mm
Width: 182 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1322 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-507308-9 (9780195073089)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
INTRODUCTION
ADVERTISING
Women
Modart: Woman's Attractiveness: The Power that Moves the World (1918)
Listerine: Often a Bridesmaid but Never a Bride (1923)
Tiparillo: Should a Gentleman Offer a Tiparillo to a Lab Technician? (1968)
NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund: "When I Grow Up, I'm Going to Be a Judge, or a Senator or Maybe President" (1980)
Mary Ann Restivo: "I Know She's a Very Important Person" (1987)
Wrangler: A Western Original Wears a Western Original (1990)
U.S. Army: There's Something about a Soldier (1990)
National Women's Political Caucus: What If? (1991)
Nike: Remember PE Class? (1992)
American Express Company: Buy What You Want to Buy (1991)
Men
White Owl: "We Smash 'Em Hard" (1918)
Listerine: Case #099 B (1928)
Charles Atlas: How Joe's Body Brought Him Fame instead of Shame (1944)
Joe Weider: The End of the Skinny Body (1973)
Future Homemakers of America: When Crusher Lizowski Talks about Being a Homemaker, You Listen (1978)
Paco Rabanne: "Hello?" "How's the Great American Novel Going?" (1982)
Aramis: An American Hero (1986)
Calvin Klein: Obsession for Men (1989)
Oaktree: In This world of Total Confusion (1992)
Nike: When You're Old, and Tired, and Suspicious
Anxieties (1992)
Resinol Soap: The Girl with the Clear Skin Wins (1916)
Book of Etiquette: Again She Orders--"A Chicken Salad, Please" (1921)
Symphony Press: Shy Person's Guide to a Successful Love Life! (1983)
LifeStyles: LifeStyles Introduces the Strongest Condom Made in America (1987)
International Paper Company: How to Write a Personal Letter by Garrison Keillor (1987)
San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS: "I Learned I Was HIV Positive 5 Years Ago" (1991)
Neutrogena: Neutrogena Gives You the Clean-Pore Advantage over Acne (1992)
Automobiles
Willys-Overland: "Most Automobiles Are Like Most Men" (1921)
Ford Closed Cars: Her Habit of Measuring Time (1924)
Volkswagen: Lemon (1960)
Oldsmobile Toronado: Separates the Men from the Boys (1969)
Volkswagen: Which Man Would You Vote For? (1972)
Mazda: You're Not John Doe. Why Drive His Car? (1991)
Saturn: Marcel Jojola Liked the Saturn SLI So Much, He Had His Customized for Work (1992)
Suzuki: We Were Cruisin' Highway 34 When Lenny Said (1992)
Eating and Drinking
Wolfschmidt's Vodka: "You're Some Tomato" (1961)
Ballantine Ale: How Would You Put a Glass of Ballantine Ale into Words? (1952)
Coca-Cola: America (1975)
McCormick/Schilling: With My Cooking, the Army That Travels on Its Stomach Is Facing a Pretty Bumpy Road (1976)
Campari: Geraldine Chaplin Talks about Her "First Time" (1981)
Burger King: They Gave the Board of Education a Lesson in the Constitution (1992)
McDonald's: Unless We Keep Living the Dream . . . (1992)
Media
Great Books: These Are the Books That Hitler Burned (1966)
Seventeen: Why Teenage Girls Stick with Their Mouthwash Longer Than Their Boyfriends (1980)
Eyewitness News: Some People Are So Opposed to Murder They'll Kill Anyone Who Commits It (1982)
Cosmopolitan: Can a Girl Be Too Busy? (1984)
Good Housekeeping: She's a Woman Who Loves Her Job (1990)
SONY: It Weighs 8,000,000 Pounds Less Than Your Average Library (1992)
Mitsubishi: Swimming at Night Had Never Bothered Me Before (1992)
Institutional and Corporate Advertising
Army National Guard: Do Something Different around Home (1978)
United Negro College Fund: Who Ever Said the Man Who Discovers a Cure for Cancer Is Going to Be White, or Even a Man? (1979)
Distilled Spirits Council: Really Tying One On (1979)
Tobacco Institute: A Word to Smokers/A Word to Nonsmokers (1979)
Bell System: Reach Out and Touch Someone (1980)
National Rifle Association: I'm the NRA (1987)
Handgun Control: "Help Me Fight the National Rifle Association" (1987)
Rockwell International: Focusing on Education (1991)
Adelphi University: There Are Three Things Everyone Should Read before Entering College (1989)
Central Intelligence Agency: Wouldn't You Want to Know if U.S. Territory Was Going to Be Invaded? (1992)
U.S. Council for Energy Awareness: Trees Aren't the Only Plants That Are Good for the Atmosphere (1992)
Marianne Moore: Correspondence with the Ford Motor Company (1955)
David Ogilvy: How to Write Potent Copy (1963)
Patricia Volk: A Word from Our Sponsor (1987)
Neil Postman: The Parable of the Ring around the Collar (1988)
Teresa Riordan: Miller Lite Guy (1989)
Miller Lite: She's the Word Pilsner (1990)
Michael Specter: Cigarettes for the Tractor-Pull Generation (1990)
David Beers and Catherine Capellaro: Greenwash (1991)
Phillips Petroleum: The Eagle Has Landed (1990)
Press
Staff Correspondent: Important. Assassination of President Lincoln, New York Herald, April 15, 1865
Stephen Crane: Stephen Crane's Own Story [He Tells How the Commodore Was Wrecked and How He Escaped], New York Press, January 7, 1897
Francis Pharcellus Church: Is There a Santa Claus? New York Sun, December 31, 1897
Heywood Broun: There Isn't a Santa Claus, New York World-Telegram, December 20, 1934
Jack Lait: Dillinger "Gets His", International News Service, July 23, 1934
George M. Mahawinney: An Invasion from the Planet Mars, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 1938
Dorothy Thompson: Mr. Welles and Mass Delusion, New York Herald Tribune, November 2, 1938
Langston Hughes: Family Tree, Chicago Defender, ca. 1942
William L. Laurence: Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki Told by Flight Member, New York Times, September 9, 1945
Tom Wicker: Kennedy Is Killed by Sniper as He Rides in Car in Dallas, New York Times, November 23, 1963
Tom Wicker: The Assassination, Times Talk, December 1963
Thomas O'Toole: "The Eagle Has Landed": Two Men Walk on the Moon, Washington Post, July 24, 1969
Vivian Gornick: The Next Great Moment in History Is Theirs [An Introduction to the Women's Liberation Movement], Village Voice, November 17, 1969
Mike Royko: Jackie's Debut a Unique Day, Chicago Daily News, October 25, 1972
Susan Jacoby: Unfair Game, New York Times, February 23, 1978
Jimmy Breslin: Life in a Cage, New York Daily News, May 21, 1987
Debbie McKinney: Youth's Despair Erupts, Anchorage Daily News, January 12, 1988
Diana Griego Erwin: His Dreams Belong to the Next Generation, Orange County Register, May 25, 1989
Samuel Francis: Rapping Garbage as "Art", Washington Times, August 24, 1989
David von Drehle: Shaken Survivors Witness Pure Fury, Miami Herald, September 23, 1989
Michael Ventura: On Kids and Slasher Movies, L.A. Weekly, November 3, 1989
Anna Quindlen: Fighting the War on Cigs, New York Times, March 4, 1990
Obscenity/The Case of 2 Live Crew
Scott Higham, Anne Bartlett, and James F. McCarty: A First: Album Ruled Obscene, Miami Herald, June 9, 1990
Ancil Davis: National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers Meet Tackles Sticky Problem Posed by Stickering, Variety, June 5, 1990
Tottie Ellis: Hooray for This Crackdown on Obscenity, USA Today, June 12, 1990
Mona Charen: Much More Nasty Than They Should Be, Boston Globe, June 16, 1990
Juan Williams: The Real Crime: Making Heroes of Hate Mongers, Washington Post, June 17, 1990
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: 2 Live Crew, Decoded, New York Times, June 19, 1990
David Mills: The Judge vs. 2 Live Crew: Is the Issue Obscenity or Young, Black Males? Washington Post, National Weekly Edition, June 25-July 1, 1990
Teri Maddox: Unsuspecting Parents Can't Believe Their Ears, Belleville (Illinois) News Democrat, September 30, 1990
Laura Parker: How Things Got Nasty in Broward County, Washington Post, October 21, 1990
Luther Campbell: "Today They're Trying to Censor Rap, Tomorrow . . . " Los Angeles Times, November 5, 1990
Russell Baker: Don't Mention It, New York Times, May 30, 1990
Ann Powers and Nina Schuyler: Censorship in America: Why It's Happening, San Francisco Weekly, June 20, 1990
George Lakoff: Metaphor and War, East Bay Express, February 22, 1991
David G. Savage: Forbidden Words on Campus, Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1991
Maureen Dowd: The Senate and Sexism, New York Times, October 8, 1991
Patrick O'Connell: Settlement of America: A Continuing Crime, San Francisco Examiner, October 14, 1991
Jeffrey Hart: Feting the Lindbergh of the 15th Century, San Francisco Examiner, October 14, 1991
Karen Jurgensen: Redskins, Braves: Listen to Those You've Offended, USA Today, November 25, 1991
Paul Hemphill: Names Debate off Target, USA Today, November 25, 1991
Magazines
Jack London: The Story of an Eyewitness [An Account of the San Francisco Earthquake], Collier's Weekly, May 1906
William Hard: De Kid Wot Works at Night, Everybody's Magazine, January 1908
Peter Homans: The Western: The Legend and the Cardboard Hero, Look, March 13, 1962
Time Staff: Death of a Maverick Mafioso [On the Shooting of Joey Gallo] Time, April 1972
N. Scott Momaday: A First American Views His Land, National Geographic, July 1976
Toni Morrison: Cinderella's Stepsisters, Ms., September 1979
Gretel Ehrlich: The Solace of Open Spaces, Atlantic, May 1981
Stephen King: Now You Take "Bambi" or "Snow White"--That's Scary, TV Guide, June 13, 1981
Bob Greene: Fifteen, Esquire, August 1982
Lance Morrow: A Nation Mourns, Time, February 10, 1986
Jerry Adler: We Mourn Seven Heroes, Newsweek, February 10, 1986
Martin Gottfried: Rambos of the Road, Newsweek, September 8, 1986
Sallie Tisdale: We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse's Story, Harper's, October 1987
Randy Shilts: Talking AIDS to Death, Esquire, March 1989
Ann Hodgman: No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch, Spy, June 1989
Elizabeth F. Brown, M.D., and William R. Hendee, Ph.D.: Adolescents and Their Music, Journal of the American Medical Association, September 22/29, 1989
Lillian S. Robinson: What Culture Should Mean, The Nation, September 25, 1989
Sidney Hook: Civilization and Its Malcontents, National Review, October 13, 1989
Ishmael Reed: Antihero, Spin, May 1990
Josh Ozersky: TV's Anti-Families: Married . . . with Malaise, Tikkun, January/February 1991
John Updike: The Mystery of Mickey Mouse, Art & Antiques, November 1991
Robert Hughes: The Fraying of America, Time, February 3, 1992
Best-Sellers
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin/Select Incident of Lawful Trade (1852)
P. T. Barnum: Struggles and Triumphs of P. T. Barnum/Early Life (1855)
Ernest Laurence Thayer: Casey at the Bat (1888)
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes [Tarzan Meets Jane; or Girl Goes Ape] (1914)
Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People/Fundamental Techniques in Handling People (1936)
Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis: Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary/First Day: Give Us 15 Minutes a Day (1942)
Ogden Nash: Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy (1945)
Mickey Spillane: I, the Jury [Mike Hammer Plots Revenge] (1947)
Grace Metalious: Peyton Place [Michael Rossi Comes to Peyton Place] (1956)
Vance Packard: The Hidden Persuaders/Babes in Consumerland (1957)
Mario Puzo: The Godfather [The Shooting of Don Corleone] (1969)
Alex Haley: Roots [What Are Slaves?] (1976)
Benjamin Spock: The Common Sense Book of Baby Care/Should Children Play with Guns? (1976)
Ron Kovic: Born on the Fourth of July [Wounded] (1976)
William Least Heat Moon: Blue Highways/Nameless, Tennessee (1982)
Letitia Baldridge: Letitia Baldridge's Complete Guide to Executive Manners/A Woman Traveling Alone (1985)
Garrison Keillor: Lake Wobegon Days/Sumus Quod Sumus (1985)
Barry Lopez: Arctic Dreams [The Arctic Hunters] (1986)
Allan Bloom: The Closing of the American Mind [Music] (1987)
Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club/Two Kinds (1989)
Susan Faludi: Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women/Blame It on Feminism (1991)
Classics
Christopher Columbus: Michele de Cuneo's Letter on Columbus' Second Voyage (1495)
Tom Wolfe: Columbus and the Moon (1979)
Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Nathaniel Hawthorne: My Kinsman, Major Molineux (1832)
Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
Henry David Thoreau: Walden/Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (1854)
Walt Whitman: One's-Self I Sing (1867)
Walt Whitman: I Hear America Singing (1860)
Walt Whitman: A Noiseless Patient Spider (1868)
Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl/ The Loophole of Retreat (1861)
Emily Dickinson: After great pain, a formal feeling comes-- (ca. 1862)
Emily Dickinson: One need not be a Chamber--to be Haunted (ca. 1863)
Emily Dickinson: I felt a Cleaving in my Mind-- (ca. 1864)
Mark Twain: Old Times on the Mississippi (1875)
Mark Twain: How to Tell a Story (1897)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)
Kate Chopin: The Dream of an Hour (1894)
Stephen Crane: The Open Boat/A Tale Intended to Be after the Fact (1897)
Jack London: To Build a Fire (1908)
Robert Frost: Design (1922), The Gift Outright (1942)
Ernest Hemingway: Soldier's Home (1925)
William Carlos Williams: The Use of Force (1933)
E. B. White: Once More to the Lake (1941)
William Faulkner: The Bear/Part I (1942)
Richard Wright: Black Boy [Discovering Books] (1945)
Flannery O'Connor: The Life You Save May Be Your Own (1953)
Tillie Olsen: Tell Me a Riddle/I Stand Here Ironing (1953-54)
Allen Ginsberg: A Supermarket in California (1955)
Sylvia Plath: Man in Black (1959), The Detective (1962)
John Updike: A & P (1962)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream (1963)
Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/Champion of the World (1969)
Norman Mailer: Of a Fire on the Moon [The First Moon Walk] (1970)
Joan Didion: On the Mall (1975)
Maxine Hong Kingston: The Woman Warrior/No Name Woman (1975)
Walker Percy: The Loss of the Creature (1975)
Raymond Carver: What We Talk about When We Talk about Love (1981)
Lewis Thomas: The World's Biggest Membrane (1982)
Annie Dillard: Total Eclipse (1982)
Eudora Welty: The Little Store (1975)
June Jordan: Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future of Willie Jordan (1985)
Scripts
Orson Welles: The War of the Worlds (1938)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello: Who's on First (1945)
Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborne: Ring around the Collar (ca. 1975)
Dick Orkin and Bert Berdis: Puffy Sleeves: A Time Magazine Commercial (1977)
Robert Geller: Hemingway's "Soldier's Home": A Screenplay (1976)
Richard B. Eckhaus: The Jeffersons: "The Blackout" (1978)
Matt Williams: Roseanne: "Life and Stuff" (1988)
ADVERTISING
Women
Modart: Woman's Attractiveness: The Power that Moves the World (1918)
Listerine: Often a Bridesmaid but Never a Bride (1923)
Tiparillo: Should a Gentleman Offer a Tiparillo to a Lab Technician? (1968)
NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund: "When I Grow Up, I'm Going to Be a Judge, or a Senator or Maybe President" (1980)
Mary Ann Restivo: "I Know She's a Very Important Person" (1987)
Wrangler: A Western Original Wears a Western Original (1990)
U.S. Army: There's Something about a Soldier (1990)
National Women's Political Caucus: What If? (1991)
Nike: Remember PE Class? (1992)
American Express Company: Buy What You Want to Buy (1991)
Men
White Owl: "We Smash 'Em Hard" (1918)
Listerine: Case #099 B (1928)
Charles Atlas: How Joe's Body Brought Him Fame instead of Shame (1944)
Joe Weider: The End of the Skinny Body (1973)
Future Homemakers of America: When Crusher Lizowski Talks about Being a Homemaker, You Listen (1978)
Paco Rabanne: "Hello?" "How's the Great American Novel Going?" (1982)
Aramis: An American Hero (1986)
Calvin Klein: Obsession for Men (1989)
Oaktree: In This world of Total Confusion (1992)
Nike: When You're Old, and Tired, and Suspicious
Anxieties (1992)
Resinol Soap: The Girl with the Clear Skin Wins (1916)
Book of Etiquette: Again She Orders--"A Chicken Salad, Please" (1921)
Symphony Press: Shy Person's Guide to a Successful Love Life! (1983)
LifeStyles: LifeStyles Introduces the Strongest Condom Made in America (1987)
International Paper Company: How to Write a Personal Letter by Garrison Keillor (1987)
San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS: "I Learned I Was HIV Positive 5 Years Ago" (1991)
Neutrogena: Neutrogena Gives You the Clean-Pore Advantage over Acne (1992)
Automobiles
Willys-Overland: "Most Automobiles Are Like Most Men" (1921)
Ford Closed Cars: Her Habit of Measuring Time (1924)
Volkswagen: Lemon (1960)
Oldsmobile Toronado: Separates the Men from the Boys (1969)
Volkswagen: Which Man Would You Vote For? (1972)
Mazda: You're Not John Doe. Why Drive His Car? (1991)
Saturn: Marcel Jojola Liked the Saturn SLI So Much, He Had His Customized for Work (1992)
Suzuki: We Were Cruisin' Highway 34 When Lenny Said (1992)
Eating and Drinking
Wolfschmidt's Vodka: "You're Some Tomato" (1961)
Ballantine Ale: How Would You Put a Glass of Ballantine Ale into Words? (1952)
Coca-Cola: America (1975)
McCormick/Schilling: With My Cooking, the Army That Travels on Its Stomach Is Facing a Pretty Bumpy Road (1976)
Campari: Geraldine Chaplin Talks about Her "First Time" (1981)
Burger King: They Gave the Board of Education a Lesson in the Constitution (1992)
McDonald's: Unless We Keep Living the Dream . . . (1992)
Media
Great Books: These Are the Books That Hitler Burned (1966)
Seventeen: Why Teenage Girls Stick with Their Mouthwash Longer Than Their Boyfriends (1980)
Eyewitness News: Some People Are So Opposed to Murder They'll Kill Anyone Who Commits It (1982)
Cosmopolitan: Can a Girl Be Too Busy? (1984)
Good Housekeeping: She's a Woman Who Loves Her Job (1990)
SONY: It Weighs 8,000,000 Pounds Less Than Your Average Library (1992)
Mitsubishi: Swimming at Night Had Never Bothered Me Before (1992)
Institutional and Corporate Advertising
Army National Guard: Do Something Different around Home (1978)
United Negro College Fund: Who Ever Said the Man Who Discovers a Cure for Cancer Is Going to Be White, or Even a Man? (1979)
Distilled Spirits Council: Really Tying One On (1979)
Tobacco Institute: A Word to Smokers/A Word to Nonsmokers (1979)
Bell System: Reach Out and Touch Someone (1980)
National Rifle Association: I'm the NRA (1987)
Handgun Control: "Help Me Fight the National Rifle Association" (1987)
Rockwell International: Focusing on Education (1991)
Adelphi University: There Are Three Things Everyone Should Read before Entering College (1989)
Central Intelligence Agency: Wouldn't You Want to Know if U.S. Territory Was Going to Be Invaded? (1992)
U.S. Council for Energy Awareness: Trees Aren't the Only Plants That Are Good for the Atmosphere (1992)
Marianne Moore: Correspondence with the Ford Motor Company (1955)
David Ogilvy: How to Write Potent Copy (1963)
Patricia Volk: A Word from Our Sponsor (1987)
Neil Postman: The Parable of the Ring around the Collar (1988)
Teresa Riordan: Miller Lite Guy (1989)
Miller Lite: She's the Word Pilsner (1990)
Michael Specter: Cigarettes for the Tractor-Pull Generation (1990)
David Beers and Catherine Capellaro: Greenwash (1991)
Phillips Petroleum: The Eagle Has Landed (1990)
Press
Staff Correspondent: Important. Assassination of President Lincoln, New York Herald, April 15, 1865
Stephen Crane: Stephen Crane's Own Story [He Tells How the Commodore Was Wrecked and How He Escaped], New York Press, January 7, 1897
Francis Pharcellus Church: Is There a Santa Claus? New York Sun, December 31, 1897
Heywood Broun: There Isn't a Santa Claus, New York World-Telegram, December 20, 1934
Jack Lait: Dillinger "Gets His", International News Service, July 23, 1934
George M. Mahawinney: An Invasion from the Planet Mars, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 1938
Dorothy Thompson: Mr. Welles and Mass Delusion, New York Herald Tribune, November 2, 1938
Langston Hughes: Family Tree, Chicago Defender, ca. 1942
William L. Laurence: Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki Told by Flight Member, New York Times, September 9, 1945
Tom Wicker: Kennedy Is Killed by Sniper as He Rides in Car in Dallas, New York Times, November 23, 1963
Tom Wicker: The Assassination, Times Talk, December 1963
Thomas O'Toole: "The Eagle Has Landed": Two Men Walk on the Moon, Washington Post, July 24, 1969
Vivian Gornick: The Next Great Moment in History Is Theirs [An Introduction to the Women's Liberation Movement], Village Voice, November 17, 1969
Mike Royko: Jackie's Debut a Unique Day, Chicago Daily News, October 25, 1972
Susan Jacoby: Unfair Game, New York Times, February 23, 1978
Jimmy Breslin: Life in a Cage, New York Daily News, May 21, 1987
Debbie McKinney: Youth's Despair Erupts, Anchorage Daily News, January 12, 1988
Diana Griego Erwin: His Dreams Belong to the Next Generation, Orange County Register, May 25, 1989
Samuel Francis: Rapping Garbage as "Art", Washington Times, August 24, 1989
David von Drehle: Shaken Survivors Witness Pure Fury, Miami Herald, September 23, 1989
Michael Ventura: On Kids and Slasher Movies, L.A. Weekly, November 3, 1989
Anna Quindlen: Fighting the War on Cigs, New York Times, March 4, 1990
Obscenity/The Case of 2 Live Crew
Scott Higham, Anne Bartlett, and James F. McCarty: A First: Album Ruled Obscene, Miami Herald, June 9, 1990
Ancil Davis: National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers Meet Tackles Sticky Problem Posed by Stickering, Variety, June 5, 1990
Tottie Ellis: Hooray for This Crackdown on Obscenity, USA Today, June 12, 1990
Mona Charen: Much More Nasty Than They Should Be, Boston Globe, June 16, 1990
Juan Williams: The Real Crime: Making Heroes of Hate Mongers, Washington Post, June 17, 1990
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: 2 Live Crew, Decoded, New York Times, June 19, 1990
David Mills: The Judge vs. 2 Live Crew: Is the Issue Obscenity or Young, Black Males? Washington Post, National Weekly Edition, June 25-July 1, 1990
Teri Maddox: Unsuspecting Parents Can't Believe Their Ears, Belleville (Illinois) News Democrat, September 30, 1990
Laura Parker: How Things Got Nasty in Broward County, Washington Post, October 21, 1990
Luther Campbell: "Today They're Trying to Censor Rap, Tomorrow . . . " Los Angeles Times, November 5, 1990
Russell Baker: Don't Mention It, New York Times, May 30, 1990
Ann Powers and Nina Schuyler: Censorship in America: Why It's Happening, San Francisco Weekly, June 20, 1990
George Lakoff: Metaphor and War, East Bay Express, February 22, 1991
David G. Savage: Forbidden Words on Campus, Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1991
Maureen Dowd: The Senate and Sexism, New York Times, October 8, 1991
Patrick O'Connell: Settlement of America: A Continuing Crime, San Francisco Examiner, October 14, 1991
Jeffrey Hart: Feting the Lindbergh of the 15th Century, San Francisco Examiner, October 14, 1991
Karen Jurgensen: Redskins, Braves: Listen to Those You've Offended, USA Today, November 25, 1991
Paul Hemphill: Names Debate off Target, USA Today, November 25, 1991
Magazines
Jack London: The Story of an Eyewitness [An Account of the San Francisco Earthquake], Collier's Weekly, May 1906
William Hard: De Kid Wot Works at Night, Everybody's Magazine, January 1908
Peter Homans: The Western: The Legend and the Cardboard Hero, Look, March 13, 1962
Time Staff: Death of a Maverick Mafioso [On the Shooting of Joey Gallo] Time, April 1972
N. Scott Momaday: A First American Views His Land, National Geographic, July 1976
Toni Morrison: Cinderella's Stepsisters, Ms., September 1979
Gretel Ehrlich: The Solace of Open Spaces, Atlantic, May 1981
Stephen King: Now You Take "Bambi" or "Snow White"--That's Scary, TV Guide, June 13, 1981
Bob Greene: Fifteen, Esquire, August 1982
Lance Morrow: A Nation Mourns, Time, February 10, 1986
Jerry Adler: We Mourn Seven Heroes, Newsweek, February 10, 1986
Martin Gottfried: Rambos of the Road, Newsweek, September 8, 1986
Sallie Tisdale: We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse's Story, Harper's, October 1987
Randy Shilts: Talking AIDS to Death, Esquire, March 1989
Ann Hodgman: No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch, Spy, June 1989
Elizabeth F. Brown, M.D., and William R. Hendee, Ph.D.: Adolescents and Their Music, Journal of the American Medical Association, September 22/29, 1989
Lillian S. Robinson: What Culture Should Mean, The Nation, September 25, 1989
Sidney Hook: Civilization and Its Malcontents, National Review, October 13, 1989
Ishmael Reed: Antihero, Spin, May 1990
Josh Ozersky: TV's Anti-Families: Married . . . with Malaise, Tikkun, January/February 1991
John Updike: The Mystery of Mickey Mouse, Art & Antiques, November 1991
Robert Hughes: The Fraying of America, Time, February 3, 1992
Best-Sellers
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin/Select Incident of Lawful Trade (1852)
P. T. Barnum: Struggles and Triumphs of P. T. Barnum/Early Life (1855)
Ernest Laurence Thayer: Casey at the Bat (1888)
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes [Tarzan Meets Jane; or Girl Goes Ape] (1914)
Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People/Fundamental Techniques in Handling People (1936)
Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis: Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary/First Day: Give Us 15 Minutes a Day (1942)
Ogden Nash: Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy (1945)
Mickey Spillane: I, the Jury [Mike Hammer Plots Revenge] (1947)
Grace Metalious: Peyton Place [Michael Rossi Comes to Peyton Place] (1956)
Vance Packard: The Hidden Persuaders/Babes in Consumerland (1957)
Mario Puzo: The Godfather [The Shooting of Don Corleone] (1969)
Alex Haley: Roots [What Are Slaves?] (1976)
Benjamin Spock: The Common Sense Book of Baby Care/Should Children Play with Guns? (1976)
Ron Kovic: Born on the Fourth of July [Wounded] (1976)
William Least Heat Moon: Blue Highways/Nameless, Tennessee (1982)
Letitia Baldridge: Letitia Baldridge's Complete Guide to Executive Manners/A Woman Traveling Alone (1985)
Garrison Keillor: Lake Wobegon Days/Sumus Quod Sumus (1985)
Barry Lopez: Arctic Dreams [The Arctic Hunters] (1986)
Allan Bloom: The Closing of the American Mind [Music] (1987)
Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club/Two Kinds (1989)
Susan Faludi: Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women/Blame It on Feminism (1991)
Classics
Christopher Columbus: Michele de Cuneo's Letter on Columbus' Second Voyage (1495)
Tom Wolfe: Columbus and the Moon (1979)
Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Nathaniel Hawthorne: My Kinsman, Major Molineux (1832)
Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
Henry David Thoreau: Walden/Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (1854)
Walt Whitman: One's-Self I Sing (1867)
Walt Whitman: I Hear America Singing (1860)
Walt Whitman: A Noiseless Patient Spider (1868)
Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl/ The Loophole of Retreat (1861)
Emily Dickinson: After great pain, a formal feeling comes-- (ca. 1862)
Emily Dickinson: One need not be a Chamber--to be Haunted (ca. 1863)
Emily Dickinson: I felt a Cleaving in my Mind-- (ca. 1864)
Mark Twain: Old Times on the Mississippi (1875)
Mark Twain: How to Tell a Story (1897)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)
Kate Chopin: The Dream of an Hour (1894)
Stephen Crane: The Open Boat/A Tale Intended to Be after the Fact (1897)
Jack London: To Build a Fire (1908)
Robert Frost: Design (1922), The Gift Outright (1942)
Ernest Hemingway: Soldier's Home (1925)
William Carlos Williams: The Use of Force (1933)
E. B. White: Once More to the Lake (1941)
William Faulkner: The Bear/Part I (1942)
Richard Wright: Black Boy [Discovering Books] (1945)
Flannery O'Connor: The Life You Save May Be Your Own (1953)
Tillie Olsen: Tell Me a Riddle/I Stand Here Ironing (1953-54)
Allen Ginsberg: A Supermarket in California (1955)
Sylvia Plath: Man in Black (1959), The Detective (1962)
John Updike: A & P (1962)
Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream (1963)
Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/Champion of the World (1969)
Norman Mailer: Of a Fire on the Moon [The First Moon Walk] (1970)
Joan Didion: On the Mall (1975)
Maxine Hong Kingston: The Woman Warrior/No Name Woman (1975)
Walker Percy: The Loss of the Creature (1975)
Raymond Carver: What We Talk about When We Talk about Love (1981)
Lewis Thomas: The World's Biggest Membrane (1982)
Annie Dillard: Total Eclipse (1982)
Eudora Welty: The Little Store (1975)
June Jordan: Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future of Willie Jordan (1985)
Scripts
Orson Welles: The War of the Worlds (1938)
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello: Who's on First (1945)
Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborne: Ring around the Collar (ca. 1975)
Dick Orkin and Bert Berdis: Puffy Sleeves: A Time Magazine Commercial (1977)
Robert Geller: Hemingway's "Soldier's Home": A Screenplay (1976)
Richard B. Eckhaus: The Jeffersons: "The Blackout" (1978)
Matt Williams: Roseanne: "Life and Stuff" (1988)