The American Reader: Words That Moved a NationThe American Reader is a stirring and memorable anthology that captures the many facets of American culture and history in prose and verse. The 200 poems, speeches, songs, essays, letters, and documents were chosen both for their readability and for their significance. These are the words that have inspired, enraged, delighted, chastened, and comforted Americans in days gone by. Gathered here are the writings that illuminate -- with wit, eloquence, and sometimes sharp words -- significant aspects of national conciousness. They reflect the part that all Americans -- black and white, native born and immigrant, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American, poor and wealthy -- have played in creating the nation's character. |
From inside the book
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... popular songs of recent years have short lives ; they were written mainly for teenagers , with lyrics that are neither important nor memorable . Indeed , the lyrics of some popular music appear to be intended to offend or degrade some ...
... popular appeal , the same emotional connection with readers . But at the present time , I am unable to identify any contemporary poems that are known and loved by large numbers of ordinary Americans . With few exceptions , the political ...
... popular culture that celebrates violence and sensationalism and that is made for the instant , not for the ages . In an age like this , it is daunting to find entries for a book whose pur- pose is to identify classic speeches , poems ...
... popular among the colonists ; typically they contained calendars , weather predictions , advice , recipes , and much other useful knowledge . Poor Richard's proverbs , adages , and maxims were sometimes original , sometimes not ; they ...
... popular in the colonies . It was sung virtu- ally everywhere - on public occasions and often just to annoy the British and their American friends . People quickly took up the song's credo : " By uniting we stand , by dividing we fall ...