I. PERSUASION POLITICS
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”
William Shakespeare “St. Crispin’s Day Speech,” Henry V
Barack Obama Keynote Address at the Democratic Convention 2004
Arnold Schwarzenegger Keynote Address at the Republican Convention 2004
Olympe de Gouges The Rights of Women
Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I a Woman?”
II. WARTIME
President George W. Bush
Presidential Remarks, Barksdale Air Force Base
Presidential Address to the Nation
Susan Sontag Comment, The New Yorker
Melissa Byles “Open Letter to Susan Sontag”
Wilfred Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Erich Maria Remarque Excerpt from the novel All Quiet on the Western Front
III. SATIRIC PENS
Jonathan Swift “A Modest Proposal”
Leonard Lewin Excerpt from the book The Report from Iron Mountain
Unsigned Articles from The Onion
“Talking to Your Child About the WTC Attack”
“More U.S. Children Being Diagnosed with Youthful Tendency Disorder”
Ira C. Herbert of Coca-Cola “Dear Grove Press”
Richard Seaver of Grove Press “Dear Coca-Cola”
IV. TEXT TALK
Rudyard Kipling “The White Man’s Burden”
H. T. Johnson “The Black Man’s Burden”
Neil Young “Alabama”
Lynyrd Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama”
Warren Zevon “Play It All Night Long”
Clive James “The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered”
Anne Lamott “Jealousy,” Excerpt from the book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
V. IDENTITY:LITTLE HISTORIES
Orhan Pamuk “My Grandmother,” Excerpt from the book Istanbul: Memories and the City
Joseph Mitchell “The Old House at Home,” Excerpt from the book Up in the Old Hotel
Richard Rodriguez “Aria” from the book Hunger for Memory
Amy Tan “Mother Tongue”
VI. SICK DAYS
Scott Russell Sanders “Under the Influence”
Anonymous “Alcoholism”
Seneca “Asthma”
Joan Didion “In Bed,” Excerpt from the book The White Album