Essays from Contemporary Culture, 5th Edition - Softcover

Katherine Ackley taught in the English Department at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point from 1979 to 2002 and also served as coordinator of the Women's Studies Program for 10 years and assistant dean of Graduate Studies for five years. Her research interests center on women in literature, with emphasis on literary representations of women's issues and, more recently, British crime writers. Her books include THE NOVELS OF BARBARA PYM (1989), WOMEN AND VIOLENCE IN LITERATURE: AN ESSAY COLLECTION (1990), MISOGYNY IN LITERATURE: AN ESSAY COLLECTION (1992), and ESSAYS FROM CONTEMPORARY CULTURE (2004, 5th Edition). The author of dozens of published articles, she received more than 20 grants for research and development and was the first woman to receive the UWSP University Scholar Award. Dr. Ackley earned a master's degree in English from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in English from Ball State University.

1. READING AND WRITING CRITICALLY. *Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address. *Garry Wills, How to Speak to a Nation's Suffering. *William Safire, A Spirit Reborn. 2. ETHICS, MORALS, AND VALUES. *Lorri Nandrea, Having No Hand in the Matter. Ellen Goodman, It's Failure, Not Success. Kurt Wiesenfeld, Making the Grade. Christina Hoff Sommers, Are We Living in a Moral Stone Age? David A. Kaplan, Infamy and Immortality. Roger Rosenblatt, The Quality of Mercy Killing. Charles Krauthammer, First and Last, Do No Harm. M. Scott Peck, Living is the Mystery. *Susan Glaspell, A Jury of Her Peers (fiction). 3. TRANSITIONS. Jennifer Crichton, Who Shall I Be? The Allure of a Fresh Start. Richard Ford, An Urge for Going. Lynn Randall, Grandma's Story. E. B. White, Once More to the Lake. Larry Watson, Silence (fiction). 4. INSIGHTS. *Roger Rosenblatt, The Silent Friendship of Men. Frank Conroy, Think About It: Ways We Know, and Don't. Annie Dillard, Living Like Weasels. Michael Denne, Learning the Hard Way. *Steven Doloff, Woodstock's Message is Still True Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour (fiction). 5. SELF-PERCEPTION. Sucheng Chan, You're Short, Besides! Nancy Mairs, On Being a Cripple. *George Felton, Richard Simmons, the Twit Triumphant. Lini S. Kadaba, What's in a Name? Rebecca Thomas Kirkendall, Who's A Hillbilly? Noel Perrin, The Androgynous Male. Brent Staples, Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space. *Sandra Cisneros, "The House on Mango Street" (fiction). 6. ROLE MODELS AND HEROES. Bill Thompson, It's Too Bad We Don't Have Another Roy. Nicholas Gage, The Teacher Who Changed My Life. Roger Wilkins, I Became Her Target. Scott M. Fisher, Lessons from Two Ghosts. *Jedediah Purdy, Rebel Twilight. *Howard Zinn, Unsung Heroes. Bruce Catton, Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts. 7. GENDERED RELATIONSHIPS. Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, and Conversation. Carol Tavris, Love Story. Ron Beathard, Over 40 and Unmarried. Katherine Davis, I'm Not Sick, I'm Just in Love. Julie Showalter, Vows (fiction). 8. POPULAR CULTURE. *David Segal, Where's the Return Fire in Culture Wars? Christopher Sharrett, Movies, Morality, and Conservative Complaints. Richard Corliss, Bang, You're Dead. John Davidson, Menace to Society. *Gerard Jones, Violent Media is Good for Kids. *David L. G. Arnold, Cavalcade of Whimsey: Defending Springfield Against Itself. Joshua Gamson, Do Ask, Do Tell. *Alan Thein Durning, Can't Live Without It. Joe Saltzman, Beating the Same Old Dead Horse. 9. PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION. Mary Crow Dog, A Woman from He-Dog. Stephen Steinberg, The Affirmative Action Debate. Tricia Rose, Rap Music and the Demonization of Young Black Males. Gerald F. Kreyche, Have We Lost Our Sense of Humor? Michiko Kakutani, The Word Police. William Raspberry, Symbolic Arguments. 10. TERRORISM, WAR, AND VIOLENCE. *Benjamin Netanyahu, Three Key Principles in the War Against Terrorism. Ellen Goodman, War Culture. Martin Luther King, Jr., Pilgrimage to Nonviolence. *Charles Johnson, Menagerie: A Child's Fable (fiction). *Denotes new to this edition.