A Very Brief Introduction to Argument

Chapter One: Languages of Argument: Can Names Really Hurt You?

George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, "Metaphors We Live By"

Alleen Pace Nilsen, "Sexism in English: Embodiment in Language"

Deborah Tannen, "For Argument's Sake; Why Do We Feel Compelled to Fight About Everything?"

Howard Wasserman, "Fan Profanity"

Gloria Anzaldua, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Luis Poza, "Arguing on the Internet"

Chapter Two: Dissent and Censorship: Should Law Abridge the Freedom of Speech?

Allison Olson, "The Zenger Case Revisited"

Nat Hentoff, "Expelling Huck Finn"

Robert O’Neill, "What Limits Should Campus Networks Place on Pornography"

Andrew Stroehlein, "Censorship Wins Out"

Barbara Ehrenreich, "Ice-T: The Issue is Creative Freedom"

Gonzalo Frasca, "Ideological Videogames: Press Left Button to Dissent"

Chapter Three: Pop Culture and the Media: Do We Cover Events or Invent Them?

Daniel Boorstin, "A Flood of Pseudo Events"

Alduous Huxley, "Propaganda in a Democratic Society"

Mike Oppenheim, "TV Isn’t Violent Enough"

James Twitchell, "But First, a Word from Our Sponsors"

Raquel Cepeda, "Money, Power, Elect: Where’s the Hip-Hop Agenda"

Sairra Patel, "The Media and its Representation of Islam and Muslim Women"

Chapter Four: Globalization and Culture: Should Slow Invasions Be Stopped?

Richard Price, "Discourse on the Love of our Country"

James Ledbetter, "The Culture Blockade"

David Van Biema, "As American As…"

Jonathan Weber, "The Ever-Expanding, Profit-Maximizing, Cultural-Imperialist, Wonderful World of Disney"

Thomas Friedman, "Globalization: The Super Story"

Brumberg and Jackson, "The Burka and the Bikini"

Chapter Five: Security and Liberty: Are They Necessarily Opposed?

John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty"

Thomas Jefferson, "Declaration of Independence"

Emma Goldman, "Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty"

Matthew Brzezinski, "The Homeland Security State: How Far Should We Go"

Leslie Marmon Silko, "The Border Patrol State"

Daria MonDesire, "Stripped of More than My Clothes"

Mona Charen, "We Should Relinquish Some Liberty in Exchange for Security"

Chapter Six: The Law and the Individual: How Should Society Enforce Its Rules?

Plato, "Crito"

Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Helen Prejean, "Executions are Too Costly—Morally"

Alan Dershowitz, "Unsung Heros—Juries Offer True Justice"

Linda Collier, "Adult Crime, Adult Time"

Michael Moore, "One Big Happy Prison"

Chapter Seven: Marriage and Divorce: How Should You Take This Person to be Your Spouse?

Judy Brady, "I Want a Wife"

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Declaration of Sentiments"

Sabaa Saleem, "A Proposal I Never Thought I'd Consider"

Andrew Sullivan, "The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage"

Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, "The Making of a Divorce Culture"

Audrey Edwards, "Bring Me Home a Black Girl"

Chapter Eight: Responsibility and the Economy: Should Money Have a Mind of Its Own?

Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal"

Bertrand Russell, "In Praise of Idleness"

Peter Singer, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality"

Michael Novak, "The Moral Heart of Capitalism"

Robert Reich, "Why the Rich are Getting Richer, and the Poor Poorer"

Tomoyuki Iwashta, "Why I Quit the Company"

Chapter Nine: Ethnicity: If Race Doesn’t Exist, Why is it So Important?

Michael J. Bamshad and Steve E. Olson, "Does Race Exist?"

Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream"

Sojourner Truth, "Ain’t I a Woman"

Ronald Takaki, "The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority"

Brent Staples, "Just Walk On By"

Jeff Jacoby, "Who’s White? Who’s Hispanic? Who Cares?"

Maria Root, "Within, Between, and Beyond Race"

Chapter Ten: Nature and its Resources: To Sustain or To Exploit?

Charles Darwin, "Natural Selection"

Rachel Carson, "The Obligation to Endure"

bell hooks, "Touching the Earth"

Joyce Carol Oates, "Against Nature"

Joy Williams, "Save the Whale, Screw the Shrimp"

Terry Tempest Williams, "Clan of the One-Breasted Woman"

Chapter Eleven: Technology: Do We Control Machines of Do They Control Us?

George Woodcock, "The Tyranny of the Clock"

Howard Rheingold, "The Virtual Community"

Sherry Turkle, "Cyberspace and Identity"

Esther Dyson, "Cyberspace: If You Don't Love It, Leave It"

Neil Postman, "Virtual Students, Digital Classrooms"

Michael Snider, "The Intimacy of Blogs"

Chapter Twelve: Ethical Issues in Medicine: When Does Life Begin and End?

Anna Quindlen, "A New Look, An Old Battle: Stem-Cell Research May Cure Diabetes. It May Teach Us How to Think About Abortion, Too"

James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia"

Sallie Tisdale, "We Do Abortions Here"

George W. Bush, "Remarks By the President on Stem Cell Research"

Miriam Schulman, "Of SNPS, TRIPS, and Human Dignity: Ethics and Gene Patenting"