Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum

Remaining one of the best-selling interdisciplinary composition texts for over twenty-five years,Writing and Reading Across the Curriculumhelps students of all majors and interests learn to write effectively for college. This rhetoric and reader guides students through the essential college-level writing skills of summary, critique, synthesis, and analysis. Part II provides a wide range of carefully-selected, cross-disciplinary readings, including a new and improved chapter on advertising that emphasizes the need to "read" visual texts in an increasingly visual age, and two new chapters on work in the 21 st century and green power.

Preface for Instructors

A Note to the Student

 

PART: I

How to Write Summaries, Critiques, Syntheses, and Analyses

 

Chapter 1: Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation

What Is a Summary?

Can a Summary Be Objective?

Using the Summary

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Summaries?

The Reading Process

BOX: Critical Reading for Summary

How to Write Summaries

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Summaries

Demonstration: Summary

WILLYOUR JOB BE EXPORTED?—Alan S. Blinder

Read, Reread, Highlight

Divide into Stages of Thought

Write a Brief Summary of Each Stage of Thought

Write a Thesis: A Brief Summary of the Entire Passage

Write the First Draft of the Summary

Summary: Combine Thesis Sentence with Brief Section

Summaries

The Strategy of the Shorter Summary

Summary 2: Combine Thesis Sentence, Section Summaries, and Carefully Chosen Details

The Strategy of the Longer Summary

How Long Should a Summary Be?

    EXERCISE 1.1 : Individual and Collaborative Summary Practice

Summarizing Figures and Tables

Bar Graphs

Pie Charts

    EXERCISE  1.2: Summarizing Graphs

    EXERCISE  1.3: Summarizing Pie Charts

Line Graphs

EXERCISE  1.4: Summarizing Line Graphs

Tables

    EXERCISE  1.5: Summarizing Tables

Paraphrase

BOX: How to Write Paraphrases

    EXERCISE 1.6: Paraphrasing

Quotations

Choosing Quotations

Quoting Memorable Language

BOX: When to Quote

Quoting Clear and Concise Language

Quoting Authoritative Language

Incorporating Quotations into Your Sentences

Quoting Only the Part of a Sentence or Paragraph That You Need

Incorporating the Quotation into the Flow of Your Own Sentence

Avoiding Freestanding Quotations

    EXERCISE  1.7: Incorporating Quotations

Using Ellipses

Using Brackets to Add or Substitute Words

BOX: When to Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote

BOX: Incorporating Quotations into Your Sentences

    EXERCISE  1.8: Using Brackets

Avoiding Plagiarism

BOX: Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism

 

Chapter 2: Critical Reading and Critique

Critical Reading

Question: To What Extent Does the Author Succeed in His or Her Purpose?

Writing to Inform

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Critiques?

Evaluating Informative Writing

Writing to Persuade

    EXERCISE 2.1 : Informative and Persuasive Thesis Statements

Evaluating Persuasive Writing

WE ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL IN EVERYWAY—Joan Ryan

    EXERCISE 2.2: Critical Reading Practice

Persuasive Strategies

Logical Argumentation: Avoiding Logical Fallacies

BOX: Tone

    EXERCISE 2.3: Understanding Logical Fallacies

Writing to Entertain

Question 2: To What Extent Do You Agree with the Author?

Identify Points of Agreement and Disagreement

    EXERCISE 2.4: Exploring Your Viewpoints—in Three Paragraphs

Explore the Reasons for Agreement and Disagreement:

Evaluate Assumptions

Critique

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Critiques

How to Write Critiques

Demonstration: Critique

To What Extent Does the Author Succeed in His or Her Purpose?

To What Extent Do You Agree with the Author?

Evaluate Assumptions

MODEL CRITIQUE: A CRITIQUE OF “WE ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL IN EVERY WAY”BY JOAN RYAN—Eric Ralston

    EXERCISE 2.5: Informal Critique of the Model Critique

BOX: Critical Reading for Critique

The Strategy of the Critique

 

Chapter 3: Introductions, Theses, and Conclusions

Writing Introductions

Quotation

Historical Review

Review of a Controversy

From the General to the Specific

Anecdote and Illustration: From the Specific to the General

Question

Statement of Thesis

    EXERCISE 3.1 : Drafting Introductions

Writing a Thesis

The Components of a Thesis

Making an Assertion

Starting with a Working Thesis

Using the Thesis to Plan a Structure

BOX: How Ambitious Should Your Thesis Be?

    EXERCISE 3.2: Drafting Thesis Statements

Conclusions

Statement of the Subject’s Significance

Call for Further Research

Solution/Recommendation

Anecdote

Quotation

Question

Speculation

    EXERCISE 3.3: Drafting Conclusions

 

Chapter 4: Explanatory Synthesis

What Is a Synthesis?

Purpose

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Syntheses?

Using Your Sources

Types of Syntheses: Explanatory and Argument

Explanation: News Article from the New York Times

PRIVATE GETS 3 YEARS FOR IRAQPRISON ABUSE—David S. Cloud

Argument: Editorial from the Boston Globe

MILITARY ABUSE

How to Write Syntheses

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Syntheses

The Explanatory Synthesis

Demonstration: Explanatory Synthesis—The Car of the Future?

    EXERCISE 4.1 : Exploring the Topic

THE FUEL SUBSIDYWE NEED—Ricardo Bayon  

PUTTING THE HINDENBURG TO REST—Jim Motavalli  

USING FOSSIL FUELS IN ENERGY PROCESS GETS US

NOWHERE—Jeremy Rifkin  

LOTS OF HOT AIR ABOUT HYDROGEN—Joseph J. Romm  

Consider Your Purpose  

    EXERCISE 4.2: Critical Reading for Synthesis  

Formulate a Thesis  

Decide How You Will Use Your Source Material  

Develop an Organizational Plan  

Summary Statements  

Write the Topic Sentences  

BOX: Organize a Synthesis by Idea, Not by Source  

Write Your Synthesis   

Model Explanatory Synthesis (First Draft)   

THE HYDROGEN FUEL-CELL CAR—Janice Hunte  

Revise Your Synthesis: Global, Local, and Surface Revisions  

Revising the First Draft: Highlights  

Global  

Local  

Surface  

    EXERCISE 4.3: Revising the Explanatory Synthesis  

Model Explanatory Synthesis (Final Draft)  

THE CAR OF THE FUTURE?—Janice Hunte  

BOX: Critical Reading for Synthesis  

 

Chapter 5: Argument Synthesis  

What Is an Argument Synthesis?  

The Elements of Argument: Claim, Support, and Assumption  

    EXERCISE 5.1 : Practicing Claim, Support, and Assumption  

The Three Appeals of Argument: Logos, Ethos, Pathos

Logos  

    EXERCISE 5.2: Using Deductive and Inductive Logic  

Ethos  

    EXERCISE 5.3: Using Ethos  

Pathos      

    EXERCISE 5.4: Using Pathos  

The Limits of Argument  

Demonstration: Developing an Argument Synthesis—Balancing Privacy and Safety in the Wake of Virginia Tech  

MASS SHOOTINGS ATVIRGINIA TECH—Report of the Review Panel  

LAWS LIMIT SCHOOLS EVEN AFTER ALARMS—Jeff Gammage and Stacey Burling  

PERILOUS PRIVACY ATVIRGINIA TECH—Christian Science Monitor  

COLLEGES AREWATCHING TROUBLED STUDENTS—

Jeffrey McMurray  

VIRGINIATECH MASSACRE HAS ALTERED CAMPUS MENTAL

HEALTH SYSTEMS—Associated Press  

THE FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT  

    EXERCISE 5.5: Critical Reading for Synthesis  

Consider Your Purpose  

Making a Claim: Formulate a Thesis  

Decide How You Will Use Your Source Material  

Develop an Organizational Plan  

Formulate an Argument Strategy  

Draft and Revise Your Synthesis  

MODEL ARGUMENT SYNTHESIS: BALANCING PRIVACY AND SAFETY IN THEWAKE OFVIRGINIA TECH—David Harrison  

The Strategy of the Argument Synthesis  

Developing and Organizing the Support for Your Arguments  

Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote Supporting Evidence  

Provide Various Types of Evidence and Motivational Appeals  

Use Climactic Order  

Use Logical or Conventional Order  

Present and Respond to Counterarguments  

Use Concession  

BOX: Developing and Organizing Support for Your Arguments  

Avoid Common Fallacies in Developing and Using Support  

The Comparison-and-Contrast Synthesis  

Organizing Comparison-and-Contrast Syntheses  

Organizing by Source or Subject  

Organizing by Criteria  

    EXERCISE 5.6: Comparing and Contrasting  

A Case for Comparison-and-Contrast: World War I and World War II  

Comparison-and-Contrast Organized by Criteria  

MODEL EXAM RESPONSE: KEY SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WORLDWARS I AND II  

The Strategy of the Exam Response

Summary of Synthesis Chapters  

 

Chapter 6: Analysis  

What Is an Analysis?  

BOX: Where Do We Find Written Analyses?

When Your Perspective Guides the Analysis  

Demonstration: Analysis  

THE PLUG-IN DRUG—Marie Winn  

    EXERCISE 6.1 : Reading Critically: Winn  

MODEL ANALYSIS: THE COMING APART OF A DORM SOCIETY— Edward Peselman  

    EXERCISE 6.2: Reading Critically: Peselman  

How to Write Analyses  

Consider Your Purpose  

Locate an Analytical Principle  

Formulate a Thesis  

Part One of the Argument  

BOX: Guidelines for Writing Analyses  

Part Two of the Argument

Develop an Organizational Plan

Turning Key Elements of a Principle or Definition into Questions  

Developing the Paragraph-by-Paragraph Logic of Your Paper  

Draft and Revise Your Analysis  

Write an Analysis, Not a Summary

Make Your Analysis Systematic

Answer the “So What?” Question

Attribute Sources Appropriately

BOX: Critical Reading for Analysis

Analysis: A Tool for Understanding 

 

PART II

An Anthology of Readings

 

ECONOMICS

Chapter 7: The Changing Landscape of Work in the Twenty-first Century

DEFINITIONS: WORK, CAREER, PROFESSION,VOCATION

A sociologist, a philosopher, a pope, and others define work and work-related activities as these have evolved over the centuries.

FIXED AND FOOTLOOSE: WORK AND IDENTITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY —Ursula Huws

In the new economy, writes a professor of international labor studies, corporations distribute work across the globe and laborers cross continents to find work—twin “upheavals” that are

“transforming social identities and structures.”

NO LONG TERM: NEWWORK AND THE CORROSION OF CHARACTER —Richard Sennett

The life of a winner in the new “No long term” economy is chronicled by a sociologist. His conclusion: “The . . . behavior which has brought [this man] success is weakening his own character in ways for which there exists no practical remedy.”

I FEEL SO DAMN LUCKY!—Tom Peters

Here are six “minimal survival skills for the 2 st century office worker” in a business environment of “monumental change and gargantuan opportunity,” according to the up-beat coauthor of an influential business management book.

WORK ANDWORKERS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY—Richard W. Judy and Carol D’Amico

A map that demystifies “the journey America’s labor force is now beginning” into an economy that will enrich some but frustrate others—courtesy of the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization.

THE UNTOUCHABLES—Thomas Friedman

Workers in the new economy had better make themselves “untouchable”—or risk losing their

jobs to automation or competitors overseas—warns the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist in this

excerpt from his best-selling book The World is Flat.

WILLYOUR JOB BE EXPORTED?—Alan S. Blinder

There’s a critical difference between “personal” and “impersonal” jobs in the service economy,

according to this economist and former presidential advisor. Not knowing this difference could cost you a job—no matter how well educated you may be.

INTO THE UNKNOWN—The Economist

Concerned about losing jobs to globalization? Relax: “What the worriers always forget is that the same changes in production technology that destroy jobs also create new ones.”

OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK / TOMORROW’S JOBS—

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Want to know the outlook for any career field you can think of? Two Web sites created by a

division of the United States Department of Labor provide a wealth of information about

hundreds of jobs.

ARE THEY REALLY READY TOWORK?—Jill Casner-Lotto and Linda Barrington

More than four hundred American employers assess the job readiness of new entrants to the

workforce.They aren’t impressed.

ENGINEERING—Richard K. Miller

What do prospective engineers need to know? The president of a new college offers advice that

extends beyond engineering: Pursue basic knowledge, but master the nontechnical as well.

Above all, pursue “those topics that truly fascinate you.”

LAW—Tom McGrath

Prospective lawyers take note: An intense drive for profits is transforming the profession. Many

veterans, as well as young associates, don’t much like what they see.

MEDICINE—Matt Richtel

Regular hours. No nighttime calls. No weekend calls. And, of course, a terrific salary.

Some doctors have it made.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

ENVIRONMENT/PUBLIC POLICY

Chapter 8: Green Power

GLOBALWARMING: BEYOND THE TIPPING POINT—Michael D. Lemonick

Why some climate change scientists believe that things may be even worse than we feared.

205 EASYWAYS TO SAVE THE EARTH—Thomas L. Friedman

Actually, there are no easy ways to save the earth, declares this Pulitzer Prize- winning New York Times columnist. Rescuing the planet from the effects of climate change will be the biggest industrial task in history

THE CLIMATE FOR CHANGE—Al Gore

The former vice president issues a challenge to “repower America with a commitment to producing  00 percent of our electricity from carbon-free sources within  0 years.”

THE DANGEROUS DELUSIONS OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE—Robert Bryce

Americans may love the idea of independence; but energy independence is an idea whose

time has not come. “From nearly any standpoint—economic, military, political, or

environmental—energy independence makes no sense,” declares the author of Gusher of Lies.

NATIONAL SECURITY CONSEQUENCES OF U.S. OIL DEPENDENCE— Report of an Independent Task Force

“The lack of sustained attention to energy issues is undercutting U.S. foreign policy and U.S.

national security,” claims a blue ribbon energy task force.The panelists urge the country to reduce its dependence upon foreign oil.

BALANCE SHEETS AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS: HOW AMERICAN BUSINESSES CAN HELP— Mindy S. Lubber

Can green consciousness be profitable? The head of an organization that works with companies and investors worldwide to address climate change and sustainable economies argues that such efforts can be good for business as well as good for the earth.

STOP THE ENERGY INSANITY—Mortimer B. Zuckerman

Our special-interest-driven energy policies are betraying “the promise of America,” writes a news magazine publisher. We need to both reduce our oil consumption and drill for more oil.We need to both fix our mass transit system and pursue alternative energy technologies.

G.M. AT  00: IS ITS FUTURE ELECTRIC?—Don Sherman

Will the electric Chevrolet Volt help save both General Motors and the environment? Stay tuned.

WHY THE GASOLINE ENGINE ISN’T GOING AWAY ANY TIME SOON—J oseph B. White

Those who believe that plug-in hybrids, electric cars, and fuel cell vehicles are the wave of the near future are indulging in wishful thinking. An automotive reporter explains that the internal

combustion engine has lasted as long as it has for good reasons.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER—Michael Totty

Can nuclear power help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels like coal? Perhaps. But questions about the economics and safety of nuclear power plants have long stalled their construction, notes a Wall Street Journal reporter.

THE ISLAND IN THEWIND—Elizabeth Kolbert

Some years ago the residents of the Danish island of Samsø decided to generate all of the electricity used in their homes and farms from wind power. They succeeded.

WIND POWER PUFFERY—H. Sterling Burnett

A skeptic argues that the power—and appeal—of wind is considerably less than it appears.

STATE SOLAR POWER PLANS ARE AS BIG AS ALL OUTDOORS—Marla Dickerson

After the state of California mandated that 20 percent of its electrical power be generated from renewable sources by 20 0, solar projects began transforming the landscape: “Rows of gigantic mirrors covering an area bigger than two football fields have sprouted alongside almond groves

near California 99.”

ENVIRONMENTALISTS AGAINST SOLAR POWER—Peter Maloney

You might assume that all environmentalists love solar power .You’d be wrong.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

SOCIOLOGY

Chapter 9: Marriage and Family in America

A POP QUIZ ON MARRIAGE; THE RADICAL IDEA OF MARRYING FOR LOVE— Stephanie Coontz

A historian of marriage first poses a few questions on how much we really know about the sacred institution. (Expect to be surprised.) Then she investigates when—and why—men and women began to marry for the “radical” idea of love.

THE STATE OF OUR UNIONS—David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

Americans are less likely to marry than they were in the past, they marry older, and they divorce more frequently. Is modern marriage in crisis?

A DEBATE ON GAY MARRIAGE—Andrew Sullivan/William J. Bennett

Why defenders of traditional values should support—or oppose—gay marriage. Two prominent spokespersons on opposite sides debate the issue.

THE SATISFACTIONS OF HOUSEWIFERY AND MOTHERHOOD/

PARADISELOST (DOMESTIC DIVISION)—Terry Martin Hekker

A housewife celebrates her role as a traditional mother. Almost thirty years and one divorce later, she has a different perspective.

A MOTHER’S DAY KISS-OFF—Leslie Bennetts

Are we living in an age of gender equality? “Most husbands still view child care and household chores as women’s work, even when those women are working full time,” argues the author of The Feminine Mistake.

UNDERSTANDING MOM—Deborah Tannen

A well-known linguist tries to see things from the perspective of her mother, who doesn’t understand why her daughter didn’t just stay married so she wouldn’t have to return to school in pursuit of a professional career.

AMERICAN MARRIAGE IN TRANSITION—Andrew J. Cherlin

Before the  950s most American marriages were defined by traditional roles in which the husband was the breadwinner and the wife was the homemaker. The next two decades witnessed two shifts that radically redefined the behavior of marital partners.

THE MYTH OF CO-PARENTING: HOW ITWAS SUPPOSED TO BE. HOW ITWAS.—Hope Edelman

An angry wife writes of the “stalled revolution”—the continued failure of men to share equally in the housework: “It began to make me spitting mad, the way the daily duties of parenting and home ownership started to rest entirely on me.”

MY PROBLEM WITH HER ANGER—Eric Bartels

A husband responds to complaints such as Edelman’s: “For women of my generation, anger appears to have replaced the quiet desperation of the past.”

WILLYOUR MARRIAGE LAST?—Aviva Patz

Short of a crystal ball, how can we predict whether marriages will succeed or fail? A researcher who tracked  68 married couples over  3 years believes that he has found the key.

THE ARBUS FACTOR—Lore Segal

In this poignant short story a man and woman meet for a date at a restaurant, where they ponder the past, the present, and the future.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

BIOLOGY

Chapter: 10 To Sleep

A THIRD OF LIFE—Paul Martin

“Sleep: a state so familiar yet so strange. It is the single most common form of human behaviour and you will spend a third of your life doing it—25 years or more, all being well.”

IMPROVING SLEEP—Lawrence Epstein,MD, Editor

A Harvard Special Health Report explains the mechanics of sleep and the internal “circadian” clock that governs our patterns of waking and sleeping.

AMERICA ’S SLEEP-DEPRIVED TEENS NODDING OFF AT SCHOOL, BEHIND THEWHEEL—National Sleep Foundation

Findings of a recent poll: “Many of the nation’s adolescents are falling asleep in class, arriving late to school, feeling down and driving drowsy because of a lack of sleep that gets worse as they get older.”

WHENWORLDS COLLIDE: ADOLESCENT NEED FOR SLEEP VERSUS SOCIETAL

DEMANDS—Mary A. Carskadon

A renowned researcher explains the biological, behavioral, and social forces that converge to make getting a good night’s sleep so difficult for so many adolescents.

SLEEP DEBT AND THE MORTGAGED MIND—William C. Dement and Christopher Vaughan

How much sleep do you owe your internal “sleep bank”? What happens to your brain when you fail to repay your sleep debt? (Hint: The collector demands his due.)

THE PITTSBURGHSLEEP QUALITY INDEX—Daniel Buysse

How well do you sleep? Take and score this test, a standard tool in the field of sleep research.

HOW SLEEP DEBT HURTS COLLEGE STUDENTS—June J. Pilcher and Amy S.Walters

So you think you can pull an “all-nighter” and ace an exam the next morning? Think again.

ADOLESCENT SLEEP, SCHOOL START TIMES, AND TEEN MOTOR VEHICLE CRASHES— Fred Danner and Barbara Phillips

What happens to the sleep habits and auto crash rates of teenagers when school start times are delayed one hour? Two researchers conducted a study designed to answer this question.

POETRY OF SLEEP—John Keats, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Three Romantic poets offer nonscientific views of sleep.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

BUSINESS

Chapter 11: New and Improved: Six Decades of Advertising

ADVERTISING’S FIFTEEN BASIC APPEALS—Jib Fowles

“[A]n advertising message contains something primary and primitive, an emotional appeal,

that in effect is the thin edge of the wedge, trying to find its way into a mind.” Advertisements

are designed to appeal to the “unfulfilled urges and motives swirling in the bottom half of our

minds.”

MAKING THE PITCH IN PRINT ADVERTISING—Courtland L. Bovée, John V.Thill, George P. Dovel, Marian Burk Wood

Is copywriting an art? If so, it’s “art in pursuit of a business goal.” Here are the main types of

headlines and body copy in the hundreds of ads we see every week.

SELLING HAPPINESS: TWO PITCHES FROM MAD MEN

A great ad campaign can create nostalgia (“the twinge in your heart more powerful than memory alone”) or can convince consumers that deadly products are perfectly safe.

A PORTFOLIO OF PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

Presenting, for your consideration, a series of striking magazine advertisements produced over the past six decades. No obligation to buy.

A PORTFOLIO OF TV COMMERCIALS

From the Energizer Bunny to text-messaging nuns, Madison Avenue has created an often-funny alternative consumer universe that compels viewing.Tune up your YouTube and get ready to laugh.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

FOLKLORE

Chapter: 12 Fairy Tales: A Closer Look at Cinderella

WHAT GREAT BOOKS DO FOR CHILDREN—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

The Pulitzer Prize winning historian and biographer shares his love of the classic tales and explains why he prefers them to “[a]pproved children’s books today”: these “classic fantasies may well be more realistic than the contemporary morality tales.”

UNIVERSALITY OF THE FOLKTALE—Stith Thompson

A folklorist, exploring the significance of telling tales, finds them to be “far older than history, and . . . not bounded by one continent or one civilization.”

SEVEN VARIANTS OF“CINDERELLA”

The much-loved “Cinderella” is found in all parts of the world. More than 700 versions exist; we include seven of them here.

CINDERELLA —Charles Perrault

ASHPUTTLE —Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

A CHINESE“CINDERELLA”—Tuan Ch’êng-shih

THE MAIDEN, THE FROG, AND THE CHIEF’S SON (AN AFRICAN “CINDERELLA”)

OOCHIGEASKW—THE ROUGH-FACED GIRL (A NATIVE AMERICAN “CINDERELLA”)

WALT DISNEY’S“CINDERELLA”—Adapted by Campbell Grant

CINDERELLA —Anne Sexton

THE RISE OF PERRAULT’S“CINDERELLA”—Bonnie Cullen

How did Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella” emerge as the “standard” version among so many variants?

“CINDERELLA”: A STORY OF SIBLING RIVALRY AND OEDIPAL CONFLICTS— Bruno Bettelheim

A psychoanalytic reading of “Cinderella”: “Every child believes at some period in his life . . . that because of his secret wishes, if not also his clandestine actions, he deserves to be degraded, banned from the presence of others, relegated to a netherworld of smut.”

CINDERELLA: NOT SO MORALLY SUPERIOR—Elisabeth Panttaja

This analysis of “Cinderella” finds our heroine a crafty liar who “hides, dissembles, disguises herself, and evades pursuit.” She’s no better, morally, than her stepsisters.

I AM CINDERELLA’S STEPMOTHER AND I KNOW MY RIGHTS—Judith Rossner

A novelist lets Cinderella’s stepmother speak for herself.The first order of business: Sue the Disney Corporation for grotesquely misrepresenting her and her daughters in the  950 animation classic.

THE PRINCESS PARADOX—James Poniewozik

Contemporary Cinderella movies “seek to inject some feminist messages into the age-old fantasy. But can you really wear your tiara while spurning it too?”

CINDERELLA AND PRINCESS CULTURE—Peggy Orenstein

What happens when a feminist’s daughter asks to dress like a princess? In this article, writer Peggy Orenstein delves into the merchandising of Cinderella and her sister princesses to discover a robust, $3 billion industry more than 25,000 products strong.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 13: Obedience to Authority

DISOBEDIENCE AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MORAL PROBLEM— Erich Fromm

“If mankind commits suicide,” argues this psychologist and philosopher,“it will be because people will obey those who command them to push the deadly buttons; because they will obey the archaic passions of fear, hate, and greed; because they will obey obsolete clichés of State sovereignty and national honor.”

THE POWER OF SITUATIONS—Lee Ross and Richard E. Nisbett

Could you predict whether or not a student walking across campus will stop to help a man slumped in a doorway? Don’t bet on it.

THE PERILS OF OBEDIENCE—Stanley Milgram

A psychologist devises an experiment to test the extent to which people will obey immoral orders. His startling conclusion: “ordinary people . . . without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process.”

REPLICATING MILGRAM: WOULD PEOPLE STILL OBEY TODAY?—Jerry M. Burger

Nearly fifty years after Milgram, a researcher replicates the original obedience experiments. Little has changed.

OBEDIENCE—Ian Parker

The intense reaction to Milgram’s experiment made him famous—and ruined his career.

GROUP MINDS—Doris Lessing

The flattering picture we paint of ourselves as individuals leaves most of us “helpless against

all kinds of pressures . . . to conform.”

OPINIONS AND SOCIAL PRESSURE—Solomon E. Asch

How powerful is group pressure upon the individual? A landmark experiment demonstrates that most people will deny the evidence of their own eyesight sooner than risk appearing out of step with the majority.

THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT—Philip G. Zimbardo

A psychologist at Stanford University designs an experiment in which college-age men take on the roles of guard and prisoner—with surprising results.“Can it really be,” asks Zimbardo,“that intelligent, educated volunteers could have lost sight of the reality that they were merely acting a part in an elaborate game that would eventually end?”

FROM ATONEMENT (A NOVEL)—Ian McEwan

Looking for someone to blame for the deaths of their comrades, British soldiers at Dunkirk morph into a deadly mob and surround an RAF airman.

SYNTHESIS ACTIVITIES

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

 

Credits

Index

Quick Indexes