Dialogues: An Argument, Rhetoric, and Reader

The new title, Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader, 3/e (formerly Crossfire), represents argument not as a battle to be won but as a process of dialogue and deliberation among people with diverse values and perspectives. The Third Edition places a new emphasis on finding common ground, encouraging students to listen and respond to those who hold different views, and to carefully deliberate about these multiple perspectives before arriving at a position. Part One contains succinct instruction on analyzing and developing arguments, from critical reading to source documentation. Part Two offers a diverse collection of provocative essays from both the popular and scholarly medium. The writing in this text is lucid, lively, and engaging as it addresses students as writers and thinkers-without overwhelming them with unnecessary jargon or theory.

This newer concept of argument informs every page of this dramatically revised third edition, now titled Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. Part One of the text demonstrates how students can use the strategies of debate, dialogue, and deliberation to engage meaningfully with people holding diverse viewpoints. In Part Two, Current Dialogues, four major new themes and 17 new subtopics present a multiplicity of viewpoints on various timely topics. New writing assignments after each subtopic ask students to synthesize their understanding of different arguments as they write their own. With 90 percent new readings, this edition of Dialogues represents a substantial revision of argument.

Highlights of Dialogues, Third Edition:

• Entirely new strategies for debate, dialogue, and deliberation
• Entirely new Chapter 2, "Reading Arguments: Thinking Like a Critic"
• Twenty sample arguments for analysis in Part One
• The latest material on finding and evaluating Internet resources
• New sample student arguments cited in MLA and APA styles
• Logical fallacies coverage in Chapter 2 and integrated throughout
• 90 percent new readings in Part Two
• Two casebooks on high-interest topics: "Juvenile Crime, Adult Punishment?" and "Teen Parents: Children Having Children?"
• The Black Freedom Struggle: Arguments That Shaped History": arguments of the civil rights movement on education, nonviolence, equal opportunity, and the effects of the movement today