English 1121 / Fall 2007 and Spring 2008

The Mercury Reader -- Table of Contents

Personal Writing Selections (9)

• Alexie, Sherman -- Indian Education

• Didion, Joan -- On Going Home

• Dillard, Annie -- An American Childhood

• Rodriguez, Richard -- Complexion

• Sedaris, David -- Me Talk Pretty One Day

• Tan, Amy -- Mother Tongue

• Thurber, James -- University Days

• Walker, Alice -- Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self

• White, E. B. -- Once More to the Lake

Informative Writing Selections (8)

• Carson, Rachel -- The Obligation to Endure

• Ehrenreich, Barbara -- "Serving in Florida," from Nickel and Dimed

• Gladwell, Malcolm -- The Tipping Point

• Mitford, Jessica -- Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain

• Rose, Mike -- I Just Wanna Be Average

• Schlosser, Eric -- Food Product Design

• Tannen, Deborah -- Men and Women Talking on the Job

• Zinsser, William -- College Pressures

Argumentative Writing Selections (8)

• Ericsson, Stephanie -- The Ways We Lie

• Hentoff, Nat -- "Speech Codes" on the Campus and Problems of Free Speech

• Kasser, Tim -- The High Price of Materialism

• Longman, Phillip -- The Return of Patriarchy

• Paquet, Laura Byrne -- From Mesopotamia to Minneapolis: It's a Mall World

• Postman, Neil -- Future Shlock

• Schwartz, Hillel -- Fat and Happy?

• Williams, Patricia J. -- Hate Radio