A World Of Ideas: Essential Readings For College Writers

Plot

- 45 substantial selections (20 new) by some of the world's most important thinkers. A World of Ideas draws its selections from the most influential writing of such major thinkers as Plato, Machiavelli, Rousseau, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, Marx, Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Beauvoir, Woolf, and James Baldwin. This edition includes three important non-Western selections, 13 modern works, and 12 classic essays by women writers.- A focus on eight great ideas. Each of the eight parts of the book focuses on one great idea -- government, justice, wealth and poverty, the mind, nature, American culture (new to this edition), faith, feminism (new to this edition). A World of Ideas' unique structure highlights seminal ideas as developed by great thinkers throughout history and facilitates cross-disciplinary comparisons. Part introductions ground students in the history of each idea and connect the philosophies of the individual writers.- Extensive editorial apparatus that helps first-year students handle the challenging material. The apparatus includes an introduction to critical reading; an introduction to each part and each selection; numerous glosses that clarify obscure references; prereading questions for each selection (a feature new to this edition); abundant discussion questions, Connections questions, and writing assignments for each selection; an appendix on writing about ideas; and an index of rhetorical terms.