The Bedford Introduction to Literature Reading, Thinking, Writing

The Bedford Introduction to Literatureis a best-seller for a reason: It brings literature to life for students, helping to make them lifelong readers and better writers. Classic works drawn from many periods and cultures appear alongside a strong showing from today's notable authors. There is plenty of support for students, with a dozen chapters of critical reading and writing support, helpful sample close readings, writing assignments, and student papers. And, because everyone teaches and learns a little differently, there are lots of options for working with the literature, including case studies on individual works and themes that everyone can relate to. In-depth chapters on major authors like Flannery O'Connor and Emily Dickinson take students deeper into their work, and the new tenth edition features a chapter on the fiction of Dagoberto Gilb, created in collaboration with the author himself one more way that the anthology showcases literature as a living, changing art form.

Michael Meyer has taught writing and literature courses for more than thirty years—since 1981 at the University of Connecticut and before that at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the College of William and Mary. In addition to being an experienced teacher, Meyer is a highly regarded literary scholar. His scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished journals such as American Literature, Studies in the American Renaissance, and Virginia Quarterly Review. An internationally recognized authority on Henry David Thoreau, Meyer is a former president of the Thoreau Society and coauthor (with Walter Harding) of The New Thoreau Handbook, a standard reference source. The American Studies Association awarded his first book, Several More Lives to Live: Thoreau’s Political Reputation in America, the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize. . He is also the editor of Frederick Douglass: The Narrative and Selected Writings. He has lectured on a variety of American literary topics from Cambridge University to Peking University. His books for Bedford/St. Martin's include The Bedford Introduction to Literature; The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature; Literature to Go; Poetry: An Introduction; and Thinking and Writing about Literature.