Reading Our Histories, Understanding Our Cultures: A Sequenced Approach to Thinking, Reading, and Writing [Paperback]

Kathleen Mc Cormick (Author), Mc Cormick (Author), Charles Lipka (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0205261760 | ISBN-13: 978-0205261765 | Edition: 1

Reading Our Histories, Understanding Our Cultures: A Sequenced Approach to Thinking, Reading, and Writing is based on the assumption that the life of every person is intimately connected to the life of the culture. This innovative, class-tested anthology translates the best of current work in cultural studies and process approaches to writing into practical sequenced assignments, motivating students to develop essential critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students are asked to engage in two complementary forms of inquiry consistently throughout the book: "historical analysis" in which they analyze change and continuity over time; and "cultural analysis" in which they explore how and why different perspectives can exist within the same time period. This kind of inquiry is meant to engage students' personal interest and, in the process, to reconceptualize what is thought of as "the personal" within larger social contexts. It enables students to move from writing just "opinion" to writing analytically and persuasively about their own perspectives and those of others.The readings in each chapter carefully juxtapose older historical primary texts with contemporary texts to give students a sense of the historical antecedents of current debates. Historical and cultural analysis is integrated in assignment sequences at the end of each chapter. Each chapter also gives students opportunities to engage in "fastwriting" assignments linking their personal experiences with the issues about which they are reading. In short, Reading Our Histories, Understanding Our Cultures: A Sequenced Approach to Thinking, Reading, and Writing teaches students to trace how a particular issue is woven into the larger cultural and social fabric, and to negotiate among different perspectives from the past and present - to develop a position of their own. This kind of work is where genuine critical inquiry begins.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book helps writers reconceptualize what is thought of as " the personal" within larger social contexts. It enables a writer to move from mere opinion to analytical and persuasive writing.

Writers are asked to engage in two complementary forms of inquiry: "historical analysis" analyzes change and continuity over time; and "cultural analysis" explores how and why different perspectives can exist within the same time period. In short, this book shows how to trace how a particular issue is woven into the larger social and cultural fabric For help with writing historical and cultural analyses.

Product Details

• Paperback: 602 pages
• Publisher: Longman Publishing Group; 1 edition (December 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0205261760
• ISBN-13: 978-0205261765
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,989,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed!, June 8, 2000

By 

Margaret Woodruff-Wieding (Austin, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Our Histories, Understanding Our Cultures: A Sequenced Approach to Thinking, Reading, and Writing (Paperback)

This book is perfect for my freshman course in composition and communication. My 24 students all take a parallel course, Introduction to Theology, with a single instructor who is using textbooks by Paul Tillich, Hans Kueng, and Viktor Frankl. Our team must show the interrelationship of one field of learning with another and make cross-disciplinary thinking a pleasurable experience. READING OUR HISTORIES takes the student from analysis of a portion of her own life to analysis of personally relevant issues throughout history and across cultures. One of the strongest points of this book is the stimulating collection of six to twelve stories and essays provided for each analysis of nine different topics. Topics such as fashion, family portraits, beauties and beasts, Elvis: Man or Myth, and The City: Dreams or Nightmares provide plenty of variety to hold the students' interests while they are practicing actual cultural and historical analysis. Assignment sequences are detailed enough to save the instructor the trouble of inventing his own, yet leave room for expression of a wide range of individual perspectives. Students who need to practice writing research papers can use a combination of the readings in the book and the audiovisual and written texts suggested for further research at the end of each chapter. They can focus on the message they want to communicate and practice citing sources that are easy for them to find.