Preface for Instructors
The Persuasive Writer: Expressing Opinions with Clarity, Confidence, and Civility
1. What's in a Name?
Patrick Olsen, Does Your Pickup Truck Have a Nickname? [The Boston Globe, October 10, 2009; Cars.com, September 2009] (advertisement)
Rebecca Mead, What Do You Call It? [The New Yorker, January 4, 2010]
Brittany Bergstrom, The Fighting Sioux: The End of a Legacy? [The Spectrum, September 29, 2009] (student essay)
Debate: Does a Family Need to Share a Surname?
Liz Breslin, YES [Brain, Child, Winter 2009]
Laura Williamson, NO [Brain, Child, Winter 2010]
America Then… 1507
Who Named America?
2. Happiness: Can It Be Defined?
Daniel Gilbert, What You Don't Know Makes You Nervous [The New York Times, May 21, 2009]
Adriana Barton, The Happy Place on the Podium [The Globe and Mail, February 18, 2010]
Walter Mosley, Get Happy [The Nation, October 5, 2009]
Tom Hewitt, Learning From Tison [The Sun Star, University of Alaska Fairbanks, December 15, 2009] (student essay)
"The Science of Happiness," from an interview with Barbara Fredrickson on cultivating positive emotions [The Sun, May 2009]
3. Is There an Ethics of Eating?
Warwick Sabin, The Rich Get Thinner, the Poor Get Fatter [The Oxford American, #68, 2010]
Amy Domini, Why Investing in Fast-Food May Be a Good Thing [Ode, March 2009]
Brian Jay Stanley, Confessions of a Carnivore [North American Review, September/October, 2009]
Jacob Swede, Remembering Johnny Appleseed [University of Minnesota Twin Cities, March 10, 2010] (student essay)
4. Photography: Can We Believe What We See?
Rob Haggart, This Photo is Lying to You [Outside, September 2009]
Jed Perl, Picture Imperfect [The New Republic, June 17, 2009]
Elizabeth Svokos, Head to Head--Print Photographs [The Bi-College News, Bryn Mawr College/Haverford College, November 18, 2009] (student essay)
America Then… 2000
Elian Gonzales
5. What Do We Fear?
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, What Should You Worry About? [Parade, October 18, 2009]
Irwin Savodnik, All Crisis, All the Time [The Weekly Standard, November 2, 2009]
Erica Zucco, Quit Living in Swine Fear [The Maneater, University of Missouri Columbia, September 4, 2009] (student essay)
America Then… 1955
The Cold War and the Fallout Shelter
6. How Is Today's Media Altering Our Language?
Clive Thompson, The New Literacy [Wired, September 2009]
Rebecca J. Rosen, This is Your Brain on the Web [Wilson Quarterly, Autumn, 2009]
Erin McKean, Redefining Definition: How the Web Could Help Change What Dictionaries Do [The New York Times Magazine, December 20, 2009]
Aprille Hanson, Stop Relying on Bloggers for News [The Echo, The University of Central Arkansas, April 7, 2010] (student essay)
Chris Clarke, How to Write an Incendiary Blog Post [Coyote Crossing, 2010]
America Then… 1844
The Telegram
7. Gender Roles: Should Women Act More Like Men?
Clay Shirky, A Rant About Women [Clay Shirky Blog; shirky.com, January 15, 2010]
Ann Friedman, Swagger Like Us [The American Prospect, March 2010]
Kim Elsesser, And the Gender-Neutral Oscar Goes to… [The New York Times, March 4, 2010]
Shannon Morgan, Defending Camelot: Chivalry Is Not Dead [Arbiter Online, Boise State University, February 24, 2010] (student essay)
Tom Jacobs, Romance Novel Titles Reveal Readers' Desires [Miller-McCune Online Magazine, March 2, 2010]
8. Does Our Need for Security Threaten Our Rights to Privacy?
Jeffrey Rosen, Nude Awakening [The New Republic, February 4, 2010]
Connie Shultz, New Airport Policy: Grin and Bare It [Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 10, 2010]
Mohammed Khan, Racial Profiling Ineffective [The Daily Evergreen, Washington State University, Jan 13, 2010] (student essay)
Jay Griffiths, The Tips of Your Fingers [Orion, January/February 2010]
9. Barack Obama: What Does His Election Mean to America?
Diane McKinney-Whetstone, The First Family [Essence, January 2009]
John Edgar Wideman, Street Corner Dreamers [Essence, January 2009]
Pearl Wong, Obama a President For All [The Santa Clara, Santa Clara University, February 25, 2010] (student essay)
Christopher Hedges, Celebrity Culture and the Obama Brand [Tikkun, January/February 2010]
10. Social Networking: How is it Transforming Behavior?
Garry Trudeau, “Hi, Dad,” Doonesbury [Syndicated, November 8, 2009]
Mary Katharine Ham, We Shall Overshare [The Weekly Standard, June 8, 2009]
Brent Baughman, Growing older in the digital age: An exercise in egotism [The Berkeley Beacon, Emerson College, February 25, 2010] (student essay)
Elizabeth Stone, Grief in the Age of Facebook [The Chronicle Review, March 5, 2010]
11. Saving the Planet: Is It Too Late?
Bill McKibben, Waste Not Want Not [Mother Jones, May/June 2009]
Jeff Goodell, Warming Gets Worse [Rolling Stone, November 12, 2009]
Cal Thomas, Sinking 'Climate Change' [Townhall.com, June 3, 2010]
Yevgeniya Lomakina, 'Going green' Misses the Point [The Daily Collegian, University of Massachusetts, April 22, 2010] (student essay)
America Then…1985
The Warming of the World
12. Immigration: Who Is An American?
Debate: Does Immigration Increase the Virtues of Hard Work and Fortitude in the U.S.? Tamar Jacoby, YES [In Character, Spring 2009]
Mark Krikorian, NO [In Character, Spring 2009]
Vincente Martinez, The Crossing [Oregon Humanities, Fall/Winter 2009]
Luis J. Rodriguez, Slurring Spanish [The Progressive, March 2010]
Elyse Toplin, Uniting Families [The Hullabaloo, Tulane University, January 29th, 2010] (student essay)
Ira Berlin, Migrations Forced and Free [Smithsonian, February 2010]
America Then…1999
Remember When This Was Heavy Traffic?