* Essays new to this edition.
Introduction
Annie Dillard, from Holy the Firm
How I Wrote the Moth Essay—and Why
Chapter 1: Reading as a Writer
Chapter 2: The Writing Process
Chapter 3: Writing Paragraphs
Chapter 4: Description
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Description: A Missing Cat Flyer
*Grace Welte, Bracken County, Northern Kentucky [student essay]
*Paul Crenshaw, Storm Country
*Brian Doyle, Joyas Voladoras
Cherokee Paul McDonald, A View from the Bridge
Alice Steinbach, The Miss Dennis School of Writing
Ann Hodgman, No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch
E. B. White, Once More to the Lake
Chapter 5: Narration
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Narration: A Book Cover
*Carrie Barker, But Two Negatives Equal a Positive [student essay]
Thomas Beller, The Ashen Guy: September 11, 2001
Heidi Julavits, Turning Japanese
Yiyun Li, Orange Crush
Mary Mebane, The Back of the Bus
*Lynda Barry, The Sanctuary of School
*Barbara Kingsolver, In Case You Ever Want to Go Home Again
Chapter 6: Example
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Example: A Lighted Billboard
Monica Wunderlich, My Technologically Challened Life [student essay]
The Onion, All Seven Deadly Sins Committed at Church Bake Sale
Janet Wu, Homeward Bound
Richard Lederer, English Is a Crazy Language
*Alex Horton, Metal Memorials
*Joanna Weiss, Happy Meals and Old Spice Guy
*David Sedaris, Laugh, Kookaburra
Chapter 7: Classification
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Classification: Drunk / Buzzed
Eric Watts, The Color of Success [student essay]
Amy Tan, Mother Tongue
*Jack Hitt, The Dollar-Store Economy
*Warren Buffet, Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
David Brooks, Harmony and the Dream
*Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt, Claire Brindis, The Toxic Truth about Sugar
Chapter 8: Process Analysis
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Process Analysis: How to Draw Cartoons
*Jessica Walden, Chasing Loons [student essay]
Jon Katz, How Boys Become Men
Allegra Goodman, So You Want to Be a Writer? Here’s How.
*Jeffrey Skinner, Practices of Moderately Successful Poets
Phillip Weiss, How to Get Out of a Locked Trunk
*Adam Penenberg and Marc Barry, The Pizza Plot
Chapter 9: Comparison and Contrast
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Comparison: A Souvenir Coffee Mug
*Dan Treadway, Football vs. Asian Studies [student essay]
Jeff Jacoby, Watching Oprah from Behind the Veil
Bruce Catton, Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
*Pico Iyer, Chapels:The Rewards of Being Quiet
Gary Soto, Like Mexicans
Deborah Tannen, Gender in the Classroom
*Roger Cohen, The Meaning of Life
Chapter 10: Definition
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Definition: Social Media Explained
*Lawrence Collerd, City of Big Shoulders [student essay, annotated]
Dave Barry, Guys vs. Men
Tanya Barrientos, Se Habla Español
Geeta Kothari, If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?
*Erin McKean, Redefining Definition
*Mike Rose, Blue-Collar Brilliance
* Jack Horner, The Extraordinary Characteristics of Dyslexia
Chapter 11: Cause and Effect
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Cause and Effect: World Wildlife Poster
*Elisa Gonzales, Family History [student essay]
*Tim Wendel, King, Kennedy, and the Power of Words
Marisa Nuñez, Climbing the Golden Arches
Henry Louis Gates Jr., A Giant Step
Myriam Marquez, Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public
*Ann Hood, Long Beautiful Hair
Chapter 12: Argument
A Brief Guide to Writing
Everyday Argument: T-Shirt on a Stick
*Liz Addison, Two Years Are Better Than Four [student essay]
Johnson Montgomery, The Island of Plenty
Mark White and Robert Arp, Should Batman Kill the Joker?
*Arianna Huffington, Empathy: What We Need Now
Mind and Media: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
*Steven Pinker, Mind over Mass Media
*Nicholas Carr, Hal and Me
*Andrea Lunsford, Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not So Fast
Moneyball: Are College Sports Worth the Price?
*Michael Rosenberg, Let Stars Get Paid
*Joe Posnanski, College Athletes Should Not Be Paid
*Laura Pappano, How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life
Chapter 13: Classic Essays and Speeches
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
*Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I a Woman?
Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth
Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream
Appendix: Using Sources in Your Writing
Glossary / Index