Rereading America

Critically examines 6 dominant myths of U.S. culture. By focusing on myths that students themselves often accept uncritically, Rereading America challenges them to recognize their own assumptions and to defend or revise their own views. The myths are: (1) the nuclear family is the only solid basis for society; (2) education empowers all citizens; (3) success is solely the product of hard work; (4) gender roles are biologically rather than culturally determined; (5) America is a melting pot, where people from different cultures blend together to form a homogeneous whole and (6) nature in America is a source of purity, discovery and betterment.

Spurs critical thinking through culturally and politically diverse readings. The 60 readings include some selections that articulate the myths — from historical manifestations such as Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick to contemporary iterations such as Hua Hsu's "The End of White America." Other readings feature differing views on them from groups pushed to the margins of American society, such as people of color, women, gays and lesbians. These alternative perspectives complicate the myths and prompt students to re-examine their own thinking and values.

Models different kinds of writing from a variety of disciplines and genres. Representing a wide array of forms and genres, selections range from the personal (memoirs, oral histories) to the popular (journalistic accounts, poems, short stories, cartoons, paintings, and photographs) to the academic (writings from the disciplines of sociology, history, education, political science, and psychology).

Explores how the media sell the myths. In each chapter readings help students see how their favorite sources of information and entertainment — the Internet, television, movies, books, radio, newspapers, and magazines — disseminate and reinforce the myths.