Abraham LincolnJosanne BegleyGarry WillsWilliam SafireLorri G. NandreaEllen GoodmanChristina Hoff SommersKurt WiesenfeldDavid A. KaplanRoger RosenblattCharles KrauthammerM. Scott PeckSusan GlaspellJohn F. KennedyJennifer CrichtonRichard FordLynn RandallE. B. WhiteLarry WatsonFrank ConroyAnnie DillardPat MoraRoger RosenblattSteven DoloffMichael DenneGeorge OrwellKate ChopinSucheng ChanNancy MairsGeorge FeltonLini S. KadabaRebecca Thomas KirkendallNoel PerrinBrent StaplesSandra CisnerosRudolph W. GiulianiBill ThompsonNicholas GageRoger WilkinsScott FisherHoward ZinnJedediah PurdyBruce CattonDeborah TannenDeborah BlumCarol TavrisWendell BerryRon BeathardKatherine DavisJulie ShowalterTricia RoseDavid SegalRobert RotenChristopher SharrettRichard CorlissJohn DavidsonJoe SaltzmanDavid L. G. ArnoldJoshua GamsonGerard JonesAlan Thein DurningMichel WieviorkaMary Crow DogStephen SteinbergPatricia J. WilliamsGerald F. KreycheMichiko KakutaniWilliam RaspberryToni Cade BambaraBenjamin NetanyahuDorothy E. DenningEllen GoodmanJoan VennochiMartin Luther King, Jr.Charles Johnson

Preface	p. xv
Chapter 1 Reading and Writing Critically	p. 1
The Gettysburg Address	p. 11
The Gettysburg Address and the War Against Terrorism	p. 11
How to Speak to a Nation's Suffering	p. 15
A Spirit Reborn	p. 17
Chapter 2 Ethics, Morals, and Values	p. 21
Having No Hand in the Matter	p. 25
It's Failure, Not Success	p. 38
Are We Living in a Moral Stone Age?	p. 40
Making the Grade	p. 47
Infamy and Immortality	p. 50
The Quality of Mercy Killing	p. 52
First and Last, Do No Harm	p. 55
Living Is the Mystery	p. 58
A Jury of Her Peers (fiction)	p. 61
Chapter 3 Transitions	p. 81
Inaugural Address	p. 85
Who Shall I Be? The Allure of a Fresh Start	p. 88
An Urge for Going	p. 93
Grandma's Story	p. 97
Once More to the Lake	p. 99
Silence (fiction)	p. 105
Chapter 4 Insights	p. 115
Think About It: Ways We Know, and Don't	p. 120
Living Like Weasels	p. 125
To Gabriella, a Young Writer	p. 128
The Silent Friendship of Men	p. 132
Woodstock's Message Is Still True	p. 135
Learning the Hard Way	p. 137
Shooting an Elephant	p. 140
The Story of an Hour (fiction)	p. 146
Chapter 5 Self-Perception	p. 151
You're Short, Besides!	p. 155
On Being a Cripple	p. 161
The Twit Triumphant	p. 171
What's in a Name?	p. 174
Who's a Hillbilly?	p. 178
The Androgynous Male	p. 181
Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space	p. 184
The House on Mango Street (fiction)	p. 188
Chapter 6 Role Models and Heroes	p. 193
A Call to Courage	p. 198
It's Too Bad We Don't Have Another Roy	p. 200
The Teacher Who Changed My Life	p. 202
I Became Her Target	p. 206
Lessons from Two Ghosts	p. 209
Unsung Heroes	p. 213
Rebel Twilight	p. 217
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts	p. 220
Chapter 7 Gendered Relationships	p. 227
Sex, Lies, and Conversation	p. 231
What's the Difference Between Boys and Girls?	p. 236
Love Story	p. 240
Men and Women in Search of Common Ground	p. 244
Over 40 and Unmarried	p. 252
I'm Not Sick, I'm Just in Love	p. 255
Vows (fiction)	p. 257
Chapter 8 Popular Culture	p. 267
Rap Music and the Demonization of Young Black Males	p. 272
Where's the Return Fire in Culture Wars?	p. 277
Is Hollywood Responsible for 9-11?	p. 280
Movies, Morality, and Conservative Complaints	p. 282
Bang, You're Dead	p. 285
Menace to Society	p. 288
Beating the Same Old Dead Horse	p. 293
Cavalcade of Whimsey: Defending Springfield Against Itself	p. 296
Do Ask, Do Tell	p. 304
Violent Media Is Good for Kids	p. 312
Can't Live Without It	p. 316
Chapter 9 Prejudice and Discrimination	p. 329
The Ruses of Racism	p. 334
A Woman from He-Dog	p. 337
The Affirmative Action Debate	p. 343
Racial Privacy	p. 347
Have We Lost Our Sense of Humor?	p. 350
The Word Polic	p. 353
Symbolic Arguments	p. 358
The Lesson (fiction)	p. 360
Chapter 10 Terrorism, War, and Violence	p. 369
Three Key Principles in the War Against Terrorism	p. 374
Is Cyber Terror Next?	p. 378
War Culture	p. 384
Parenting Post-9/11	p. 386
Pilgrimage to Nonviolence	p. 388
Menagerie, A Child's Fable (fiction)	p. 392
Credits	p. 403
Photo Credits	p. 407
Index	p. 409