Amazon.com: Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers: David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky: Books

Review

"Ways of Reading is not prescriptive; instead, it challenges students and engages them in the timeless issues of interpretation, knowledge, and power."

— Anne Laskaya, University of Oregon

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

In the late 1970s, instructors at the University of Pittsburgh recognized that students were entering the school unprepared for the rigors of academic life. The university’s response was to develop a course offering challenging material — readings requiring serious attention — along with a method of reading and rereading that helped students learn to read and think critically and respond in writing. That course proved enormously successful, and its materials and methods were published as Ways of Reading. Often imitated — but never duplicated — Ways of Reading has for over twenty years profoundly influenced the teaching of writing. It continues to offer students and instructors a uniquely exciting and challenging approach to first-year composition, integrating reading, writing, and critical thinking with an unparalleled selection of readings and editorial features. Ways of Reading helps students develop the necessary intellectual skills for college-level academic work while engaging them in conversations with key academic and cultural texts. It bridges the gap between contemporary critical theory and composition so that instructors can connect their own scholarly work with their teaching. Adopted and readopted from coast to coast in a wide variety of schools, hundreds of instructors and thousands of students confirm that it works.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

Paperback: 928 pages
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; 7th edition (December 28, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312409958
ISBN-13: 978-0312409951
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds

Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #254,698 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Citations (learn more)

22 books cite this book:

Conflicts and Crises in the Composition Classroom: and What Instructors Can Do About Them by Dawn Skorczewski (Editor) on 6 pages
Education Is Translation: A Metaphor for Change in Learning and Teaching by Alison Cook-Sather in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Love and Good Reasons: Postliberal Approaches to Christian Ethics and Literature by Fritz Oehlschlaeger in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Research Writing Revisited: A Sourcebook for Teachers by Pavel Zemliansky on page 7, and page 13
Wives and Warriors: Women and the Military in the United States and Canada by Laurie Weinstein on page 60, and page 61

See all 22 books citing this book

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10 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

2.7 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From a Teacher, April 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers (Paperback)

I have used this book to teach a freshman writing and reading course at a liberal arts school. Because of the difficulty of many of the texts, it was met by my students with little fanfare. While a few of the pieces are clearly too much for the average freshman (Foucault comes first to mind), most can be used effectively to get them to discuss issues. I have found that the students would rather talk in generals and universals than with the intricate arguments that some of the writers brilliantly present.
This is one of the those books that if you decide to use it in a class, then you better be prepared to not only sink with the ship but also be able to provide an inspiring tour of the ruins.

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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and rewarding, February 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers (Paperback)

This tremendously rich and rewarding book is probably the best collection of essays, with the best apparatus (the most interesting questions, the best ideas for writing) of any teachable collection out there.

I teach at the University of California, Berkeley, and use this book, as do a number of my colleagues. Each one of these essays will unlock a world. Some of them, like Clifford Geertz or Paolo Freire or John Edgar Wideman or Adrienne Rich are centerpieces of my courses. History, anthropology, literature (the new addition of Alice Munro is a brilliant stroke), fieldwork, sociology... but to say that one can introduce any of these fields using this book doesn't do it justice.

These essays are complex and balanced, representing a wide variety of world views, whether political or aesthetic. Reading them requires some effort, but the essays will well repay that effort. They will transform any reader's ideas of what an essay can be.

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22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging, yet rewarding read, February 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers (Paperback)

I had to read this book for my upper division journalism class this fall and found it to be one of the best books that we used in the course. The editors have tried to collect well-written, intelligent documentaries that challenge traditional connections between words and photographs.

Included are Edward Said's inspiring piece about the Palestinian holocaust and exile, a piece by Roland Barthes about the meaning of photograph, "Let Us Speak Now of Famous Men," and many others. Although some pieces are better than others, Barthes' piece is more exciting and informative than Marianne Hirsch's writing on the way that children are used in photography. Over all, the collection is a rewarding and challenge book that could be used for any upper division class. (Maybe the reason that previous reviewers did not like the book is that it was not intended for first year college composition classes.)