The Dolphin Reader

When this flagship thematic reader first appeared in the 1980s, instructors appreciated its rigorous approach and challenging essays. This revision harks back to the classic Dolphin Reader, with its timeless selections, lengthier readings, and streamlined apparatus.

Compiled by a longtime freshman composition coordinator and current director of a writing-across-the-curriculum program, The Dolphin Reader is designed to engage students and provide instructors with flexibility and variety. The 87 carefully selected readings are arranged in thematic units that prepare students to face some of the central questions in a wide range of academic disciplines.

• Assignments and paper topics guide students to write in various styles, from autobiographical to historical, while helping them make connections and comparisons among essays.
• A unit of four nonfiction masterpieces includes Lytton Strachey's "Florence Nightengale" and Joan Didion's "Slouching Toward Bethlehem." These renowned longer selections are not available in comparable readers, and they give students an opportunity not only to read some of the finest prose of the last century, but also to apply insights drawn from several of the thematic units to a longer work.
• The Instructor's Resource Manual has hundreds of questions for discussion and writing; lesson plans and reading quizzes for each unit; and summaries, lesson plans, and style exercises for every selection.

1. Some Ways of Knowing Adrienne Rich, Claiming an Education Samuel Scudder, Learning to See Carol Bly, Growing Up Expressive Jacob Bronowski, The Creative Mind William G. Perry, Jr., Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts Vincent G. Dethier, Extracting Information from a Fly Linda Hogan, Hearing Voices William L. Rodman, When Questions Are Answers 2. Some Reasons for Writing George Orwell, Why I Write David Bradley, The Faith Richard Rodriguez, Mr. Secrets Adrienne Rich, When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision George Orwell, Politics and the English Language Joan Didion, Why I Write 3. Community Scott Russell Sanders, The Common Life Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital Katha Pollitt, For Whom the Ball Rolls H.D.F. Kitto, The Polis James Baldwin, Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem Jane Jacobs, The Uses of Sidewalks Susan Glaspell, Trifles (drama) 4. Femininity and Masculinity Susan Brownmiller, Femininity Annie Dillard, Samson in Chains Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff Katha Pollitt, The Smurfette Principle Jan Morris, To Everest Noel Perrin, The Androgynous Man JoAnn Wypijewski, A Boy's Life Gloria Steinem, Sex, Lies, and Advertising John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums (fiction) 5. What's So Bad About Being Poor? Charles Murray, What's So Bad About Being Poor? Gary Soto, Black Hair E.M. Forster, My Wood John Kenneth Galbraith, How to Get the Poor Off Our Conscience Clarence Darrow, Address to the Prisoners in Cook County Jail Sallie Tisdale, Good Soldiers Lars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving Alice Walker, Everyday Use (fiction) 6. On the Job Dorothy L. Sayers, Living to Work Studs Terkel, Two Prefaces from Working Carol Bly, Getting Tired Sue Hubbell, Beekeeper Paul Roberts, Virtual Grub Street Perri Klass, Learning the Language William Carlos Williams, Jean Biecke (fiction) 7. Faith and Practice E.M. Forster, What I Believe Patricia Nelson Limerick, Believing in the American West Huston Smith, The Straight Path of Islam Robert Kegan, The Mitzvah of Kaporis Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail Flannery O'Connor, Revelation (fiction) 8. Progress and Its Price Daniel Boorstin, Technology and Democracy Alice Bloom, On a Greek Holiday C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man Barbara Ehrenreich, Spudding Out Randall Jarrell, A Sad Heart at the Supermarket E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops (fiction) 9. Their Lives and Times Lytton Strachey, Florence Nightingale Joan Didion, Slouching Toward Bethlehem Roger Angell, In the Country Katherine Boo, After Welfare