The Signet Book of American Essays

Table Of Contents

Signet Book of American EssaysIntroduction

Aspects of Literacy
1. Benjamin Franklin: from the Autobiography
2. Katherine Peterson: Why
3. Eudora Wetly: Writing and Analyzing the Story
4. Sam Pickering: Composing a Life
5. Richard Lederer: The Miracle of Language

On Education
6. Ralph Waldo Emerson: The American Scholar
7. W.E.B. Dubois: Of the Coming of John
8. Albert Einstein: On Education

Religious Fervor
9. Cotton Mather: On the Trial of Bridget Bishop
10. Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Meaning of this Hour
11. Neal Osterow: Making Sense of the Nonsensical

Intellectual Freedom
12. Leonard Everett Fisher: Censorship and the Arts
13. Lance Morrow: In Praise of Huckleberry Finn
14. Judith Krug: Intellectual Freedom, Libraries, and Censorship

Women Speak Out
15. Abagail Adams: Letter from Braintree, 31 March 1776
16. Gloria Steinem: A New Egalitarian Life Style
17. Sandra Cisneros: Only Daughter
18. Hillary Rodham Clinton: Remarks to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Plenary Session
19. Anna Quindlen, The War We Haven’t Won

Individual Rights
20. Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience
21. Martin Luther King. Jr.: Letter from a Birmingham Jail

On the Lighter Side
22. George Plimpton: Desperately Seeking Humor
23. Mark Twain: Advice to Youth
24. Erma Bombeck: Warning: Families May Be Dangerous to Your Health

America at the Crossroads
25. Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
26. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Joint Address to Congress, December 8, 1941
27. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Farewell Adress, January 17, 1961
28. John F. Kennedy: Special Message to Congress on the Defense Budget, March 28, 1961