Overview

"This rhetoric-and-reader textbook teaches college students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills for self-defense in the contentious arena of American civic rhetoric. This edition is substantially updated for an era of renewed tensions over race, gender, and economic inequality—all compounded by the escalating decibel level and polarization of public rhetoric. Readings include civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander on ""the new Jim Crow,"" recent reconsiderations of socialism versus capitalism, Naomi Wolf’s and Christine Hoff Sommers’ opposing views on ""the beauty myth,"" a section on the rhetoric of war, and debates on identity politics, abortion, and student debt. Designed for first-year or more advanced composition and critical thinking courses, the book trains students in a wealth of techniques to locate fallacies and other weaknesses in argumentation in their prose and the writings of others. Exercises also help students understand the ideological positions and rhetorical patterns that underlie opposing views, from Ann Coulter to Bernie Sanders. Widely debated issues of whether objectivity is possible and whether there is a liberal or conservative bias in news and entertainment media, as well as in education itself, are foregrounded as topics for rhetorical analysis."

Full Product Details

Author:   Donald Lazere ,  Anne-Marie Womack
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Edition:   3rd edition
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9780415793650

ISBN 10:   0415793653
Pages:   316
Publication Date:   07 October 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Contents Preface to Teachers and Students Acknowledgments Part I: Introduction Chapter 1: An Appeal to Students English as a Survival Skill The Tradition of Education for Critical Citizenship Mario Savio, ""An End to History"" / Young America Foundation Website Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 2: Good Arguments A Good Argument is Well-Supported A Good Argument Verifies Facts and Expresses Informed Opinions A Good Argument Questions Hidden Premises A Good Argument is Relevant, Consistent, and Avoids Fallacies A Good Argument Effectively Refutes Opposing Arguments but is Fair-Minded and Qualified Analysis, Synthesis, and Judgments Style and Tone, Eloquence and Moral Force Conclusion Argument Analysis Checklist Bryan W. Van Nord, ""The Ignorant Do Not Have a Right to an Audience"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 3: Definitions and Criteria of Critical Thinking Critical Thinking and Cultural Literacy Making Connections and Creating Dialogue in Critical Thinking and Literature Walt Whitman, ""A Noiseless, Patient Spider."" Recursion, Cumulation, and Levels of Meaning Drawing the Line and Establishing Proportion Recognizing Complexity and Reading Between the Lines Irony and Paradox James Baldwin, ""My Dungeon Shook"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 4: Semantics in Rhetoric and Critical Thinking Denotation and Connotation Definition and Denotation in Argument Connotation in Argument: ""Cleans"" And ""Dirties"" Euphemism Abstract and Concrete Language Unconcretized Abstractions Literal and Figurative Language Summary: Applying Semantic Analysis A Semantic Calculator for Bias in Rhetoric George Lakoff, ""Framing the Issues."" Mary Ann Glendon, ""When Words Cheapen Life."" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 5: Writing Argumentative Papers Prewriting Writing Postwriting Locating and Evaluating Sources A Model of The Writing Process In A Student Paper Naomi Wolf, from The Beauty Myth / Christina Hoff Sommers, ""The Backlash Myth"" Part II: Attaining an Open Mind: Overcoming Psychological Blocks to Critical Thinking Chapter 6: From Cocksure Ignorance to Thoughtful Uncertainty: Viewpoint, Bias, and Culturally Conditioned Assumptions Relativism and Commitment Biased and Unbiased Viewpoints Acknowledge Your Own and Opposing Viewpoints Rogerian Argument, Believers and Doubters Culturally Conditioned Assumptions and Centrisms Totems and Taboos Ethnocentrism American Ethnocentrism Phallocentrism Other—Centrisms Virginia Woolf, from A Room of One’s Own, Pamela Druckerman ""The Perpetual Panic of American Parenthood"" / Rebecca Traister, ""Fury is a Political Weapon. And Women Need to Wield It"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 7: Overgeneralization, Stereotyping, and Prejudice Prejudice Class Prejudice The Role of Corporations Reverse Prejudice Stephanie Salter, ""An Unexpected Education at St. Anthony’s"" / Michelle Alexander, ""Introduction to The New Jim Crow"" / Donald Barlett and James Steele, ""Life on the Expense Account""/Robert Jensen, ""Anti-Capitalism in Five Minutes"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 8: Authoritarianism and Conformity, Rationalization and Compartmentalization Paddy Chayevsky, from Network Rationalization and Compartmentalized Thinking Double Standards and Selective Vision Other Defense Mechanisms George Orwell, from 1984 / Katha Pollitt, ""On the Merits""/ David French, ""End the Double Standards in Reporting Political Violence"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Part III: Elements of Argumentative Rhetoric Chapter 9: Some Key Terms in Logic and Argumentation Deductive and Inductive Arguments Implications and Inferences Setting the Agenda Tone and Style Polemics Ground Rules for Polemicists P. J. O’Rourke, ""Closing the Wealth Gap"" / ""Opposing Arguments on Abortion"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 10: Fallacies Glossary of Fallacies Mark Lilla, Interviewed by Sean Illing. ‘This Professor Set Off a War of Words over ‘Identity Politics.’ We Debated Him. Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 11: Causal Analysis Causal Fallacies What’s the Matter with Higher Education? Wayne Davis, ""UT Knoxville’s $1.7 Billion Impact Only a Fraction of Our Contribution""/Laurence Biemiller, ""Over 20 years, State Support for Public Higher Education Fell More than 25 Percent""/ Adolph Reed, Jr., From ""Majoring in Debt""/ Joseph Palermo, ""Starving the Beast: The Battle to Disrupt and Reform America’s Public Universities. A Film Written and Directed by Steve Mims""/ Rick Lowry, ""Where’s the Misery?""/ Richard Vedder, ""Student Loan Debt: Time for Radical Reform"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 12: Uses and Misuses of Emotional Appeal Appeals to ""Cleans"" and ""Dirties"" Puff Pieces and Hatchet Jobs Predictable Patterns of Wartime Rhetoric: Appeals to Fear and Pity Mark Twain, ""The War Prayer"" / Paul Fussell, ""The Real War 1939–1945""/ Nora Okja Keller, From ""Comfort Women""/ ""War Is the Supreme Drug,"" An Interview with Author Chris Hedges Topics for Discussion and Writing Part IV: Thinking Critically about the Rhetoric of Politics and Mass Media Chapter 13: Thinking Critically about Political Rhetoric Prestudy Exercises Political Semantics Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, Republican Left Wing, Right Wing Political Versus Economic Systems; Capitalism, Socialism Marxism Fascism Social Class and Political Attitudes Rhetoric in The Culture Wars: Think Tanks Versus Universities Beverley Gage, ""Americans Can Never Sort Out Whether ‘Socialism’ is Marginal or Rising""/ Michael Schuman, ""Marx’s Revenge: How Class Struggle is Shaping the World""/ Lawrence Britt, ""Fascism Anyone?""/ Lewis F. Powell, ""Attack on American Free Enterprise System"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 14: Thinking Critically about Mass Media Objectivity and Bias in the Media The Debate Over Political Bias in Media Who’s Where in American Media: The Spectrum of Viewpoints, Left to Right Matt Wilstein, ""Ann Coulter Smears Immigrant Children as ‘Child Actors’""/ Bernie Sanders, ""How Corporate Media Threatens Our Democracy""/ Ben Shapiro, ""Media Dishonesty on Immigration Contributes to Gridlock""/ David Swanson, ""PR Firm Says it Ghost-Wrote Thousands of Op-Eds in Major US Papers""/ Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 15: Deception Detection: Varieties of Special Interests and Propaganda Special Interests, Conflict of Interest, and Special Pleading Lobbying and Public Relations Varieties of Propaganda Invective and Smearing Government Public Relations; The Military-Industrial-Media Complex Bruce J. Schulman, ""The Historic Power of Special Interests""/ Sixty Minutes, ""Ex-DEA Agent: Opioid Crisis Fueled by Drug Industry and Congress""/ Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., ""Elon Musk and the Corporate Controlled Media"" Topics for Discussion and Writing Chapter 16: From Reaganomics to Trumponomics: Opposing Views on Taxation and the Wealth Gap Buzzflash Versus National Review on the Wealth Gap Mike Mozart, ""Walmart Heir Does Not Deserve Assets It Would Take a Worker a Million Years to Earn""/ Kevin D. Williamson, ""The Happiest Census: What the Forbes Billionaires List Tells Us about How to Get Rich in America Goldberg Versus Chait on Taxes Jonah Goldberg, ""The Rich Aren’t Made of Money""/ Jonathan Chait, ""A Very Special Kind of Math"" Summary of Specious Statistical Arguments An Outline of Conservative and Leftist Arguments on the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class Topics for Discussion and Writing (further topics at www.routledge/cw/lazere) Index Works Cited Additional Rhetorical Analyses by Donald Lazere Chapter 1: Analysis of Savio and YAF Chapter 2: Historical-Causal Analysis of ""The White Problem"" Chapter 11: Analysis of Readings on College Costs Chapter 13: Analysis of The Powell Memo Chapter 16: Analysis of Goldberg and Chait Appendix to Chapter 16: Analyzing Arguments about Reaganomics and the Wealth Gap, after President Trump’s Tax Reform Act of 2017"

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Author Information

Donald Lazere is Professor Emeritus of English at Cal Poly State U, San Luis Obispo. He has written or edited six other scholarly and text books on argumentative rhetoric and the politics of education, media, and literature. He has also published widely on these topics in scholarly journals as well as in opinion columns and book reviews for journalistic periodicals such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times. Anne-Marie Womack is a Professor of Practice and former Director of Writing at Tulane University. She’s the creator of the award-winning AccessibleSyllabus.com, a guide to universally designing educational documents. Her articles appear in College Composition and Communication, Composition Forum, Pedagogy, and Hybrid Pedagogy, among others. Currently, she is co-authoring a book on inclusive college classrooms with Lauren Cardon.

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