Don LePan

Laura Buzzard

Maureen Okun

In recent decades, the contested areas of English usage have grown both larger and more numerous. English speakers argue about whether we should say man or humanity, fisher or fisherman; whether we ought to speak of people as being disabled, or challenged, or differently abled; whether it is acceptable to say that’s so gay. More generally, we ask, can we use language in ways that avoid giving expression to prejudices embedded within it? Can the words we use help us point a way towards a better world? Can we ask such questions with appropriate seriousness while remaining open-minded—and while retaining our sense of humor? To all these questions this concise and user-friendly guide answers yes, while offering clear-headed discussions of many of the key issues.

How to Be Good with Words

Nora Ruddock

Alexandria Stuart

The third edition of this anthology has been substantially revised and updated for a contemporary American audience; a selection of classic essays from earlier eras has been retained, but the emphasis is very much on twenty-first-century expository writing. Works of different lengths and levels of difficulty are represented, as are narrative, descriptive and persuasive essays—and, new to this edition, lyric essays. For the new edition there are also considerably more short pieces than ever before; a number of op-ed pieces are included, as are pieces from blogs and from online news sources. The representation of academic writing from several disciplines has been increased—and in some cases the anthology also includes news reports presenting the results of academic research to a general audience. Also new to this edition are essays from a wide range of the most celebrated essayists of the modern era—from James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, and Annie Dillard to Eula Biss and Ta-Nehisi Coates. The anthology remains broad in its thematic coverage, but certain themes receive special emphasis—notably, issues of race, class, and culture in twenty-first century America. For the new edition the headnotes have been expanded, providing students with more information as to the context in which each piece was written. Questions and suggestions for discussion have been moved online to the instructor website.

The Broadview Anthology of Expository Prose - Third Edition

Julia Gaunce

Tammy Roberts

Mical Moser

A substantial selection of classic essays allows readers to trace the history of the essay from Swift to Woolf and Orwell and beyond. A selection of the finest of contemporary essays—from Witold Rybcynski to David Sedaris and Elizabeth Kolbert—provides a broad sample of the genre in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The academic essays begin with classic selections from such writers as Darwin and Charles Lyell, but the emphasis is on recent decades. Emphasized as well are academic papers or essays that have been especially influential or controversial, from Luis and Walter Alvarez’s suggestion that an asteroid caused the extinction of the dinosaurs to Judith Rich Harris's argument that the influence of peers may be at least as influential in the formation of personality as that of parents. Works of different lengths, levels of difficulty and subject matter are all represented, as are narrative, descriptive and persuasive essays. Also included in the text is a range of questions and suggestions for discussion. The text selections are numbered by paragraph for ready reference. Added to the second edition are new selections by Malcolm Gladwell, Doris Lessing, Eric Schlosser, Binyavanga Wainaina, and over twenty others. This new edition also provides pairings of informal and academic articles that address the same topic, allowing readers to consider contrasting approaches.

Laura Buzzard

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