More than 140 readings in Conversations, Fifth Edition , present an extraordinary variety of authors, genres, voices, and viewpoints on important contemporary civic issues. The diversity of opinions expressed and the currentness of issues explored encourage students to "join the conversation"—through their own writing. For each issue addressed, Conversations offers not just one or two selections, but several. Frequently, selections comment on and argue with other selections, demonstrating that writing is a social exchange, and that much writing is a response to other writing.

Table of Contents:
* Denotes selections new to this edition. 1. Education. Introduction. What to Do About the Schools? E.B. White, Education. *Paul E. Petersen, A Liberal Case for Vouchers. *Martin Carnoy, Do School Vouchers Improve School Performance? Susan Tarves, Another Kind of School Choice. *Marc Fisher, To Each His Own. Jonathan Kozol, A Tale of Two Schools: How Poor Children Are Lost to the World. Charles Dickens, What Is a Horse? Jerome Stern, What They Learn in School. What's College For? Alice Walker, Everyday Use. Bell Hooks, Pedagogy and Political Commitment: A Comment. Gary B. Trudeau, Doonesbury. Ads for Hofstra University and Yeshiva University. W.D. Snodgrass, The Examination. John Searle, The Case for a Traditional Liberal Arts Education. Literacy Narratives: How Did You Become Literate? Benjamin Franklin, from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Frederick Douglass, from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. * Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper. * Marcus Gilmore, The Human Contact Zone. * Mary Ann Williams, Turning Topsy Turvey. Min-Zhan Lu, From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle. Chi-Fan Jennifer Ku, An Internal Divide. 2. Language. Introduction. Should We Have a National Language? Richard Rodriguez, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood. Victor Villanueva, Jr., Whose Voice Is It? Rodriguez' Speech in Retrospect. Ron Unz and Gloria Matta Tuchman, The English Education for Children Initiative. American Civil Liberties Union, Briefing Paper on `English Only'. * U. S. English, Why an Immigrant Heads an Organization Called U. S. English. Should There Be-Or Can There Be-A "Standard" English? Barbara Mellix, From Outside, In. * Amy Tan, Mother Tongue. Geneva Smitherman, White English in Blackface, or Who Do I Be? * Eldridge Cleaver, We Need to Rescue Kids from Ebonics. On Ebonics: A Discussion of Black English. * Keith Gilyard, It Ain't Hard to Tell: Distinguishing Fact from Fallacy in the Ebonics Controversy. Gary Larson, The Far Side. Is English Sexist? Beverly Gross, Bitch. * David F. Sally, Genderator I.I: A Modish Proposal. New Yorker, You'll Just Love the Way He Handles. Deborah Tannen, CrossTalk. 3. Race and Gender. Introduction. Defining Race. Sharon Begley, Three Is Not Enough. Karla Brundage, Passing. Linda Hogan, The History of Red and Heritage. Demian Hess, But You Don't Look Chinese. Ranier Spencer, Race and Mixed Race: A Personal Tour. Defining Gender. Letters from and Between John Adams and Abigail Adams. Sojourner Truth, Ain't I a Woman? Susan Glaspell, Trifles. * Marge Piercy, Barbie Doll. * Sharon Olds, Rites of Passage. * Scott Russell Sanders, The Men We Carry in Our Minds. Ursula K. Le Guin, Limberlost. Affirmative Action. Shelby Steele, A Negative Vote on Affirmative Action. * Nathan Glazer, Should the SAT Account for Race? Yes. * Abigail Thernstrom, Should the SAT Account for Race? No. * Susan Sturm and Lani Guinier, The Future of Affirmative Action. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harrison Bergeron. * Tom Toles, Cut the Gordian Knot. 4. Family Matters. Introduction. Can the Family Be Saved? Roger Rosenblatt, The Society That Pretends to Love Children. * Steven L. Nock, The Problem with Marriage. Shere Hite, Bringing Democracy Home. Stephanie Coontz, How Ignoring Historical and Societal Change Can Put Kids at Risk. Is Single Parenthood a Problem? Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Dan Quayle Was Right. Ellen Willis, Why I'm Not "Pro-Family." Iris Marion Young, Making Single Motherhood Normal. Jean Bethke Elshtain, Single Motherhood: A Response to Iris Young. Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, Rights and Responsibilities: A Response to Iris Young. Iris Marion Young, Response to Elshtain and Steinfels. Should Same-Sex Couples Be Permitted to Marry? * Andrew Sullivan, Here Comes the Groom. * Hadley Arkes, The Closet Straight. * Ralph Pomeroy, A Tardy Epithalamium for E. and N. Anna Quindlen, Evan's Two Moms. Barbara Findlen, Is Marriage the Answer? * Tom Toles, Cartoon. 5. Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. Introduction. Censorship I: Pornography. President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Majority Report. President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Minority Report. Susan Brownmiller, Let's Put Pornography Back in the Closet. John Irving, Pornography and the New Puritans. Andrea Dworkin, Reply to John Irving. Nadine Strossen, The Perils of Pornophobia. Maria Soto, Is It Pornography? * Censorship II: The Napster Case. * David Grad, Sound Off. * Ruben Bolling, Tom the Dancing Bug Presents. * Paul Winston, Copying This Article Is Strictly Forbidden. * Steve Smith, Napster = Betamax. On Civil Disobedience. Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience. Mahatma Gandhi, Letter to Lord Irwin. Martin Luther King, Jr., Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience. Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail. * Malcolm X, Message to the Grass Roots. Should Abortion Be Legal? Gwendolyn Brooks, The Mother. Sallie Tisdale, We Do Abortions Here. Mary Meehan, A Pro-Life View from the Left. * Anna Quindlen, Abortion Is Too Complex to Feel All One Way About. Mike Royko, A Pox on Both Your Houses. Jim McCloskey and Mike Luckovich, Cartoons. Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Rights. Michael Cunningham, Taking the Census of Queer Nation. Bruce Bawer, Notes on Stonewall. John Berresford, Rights and Responsibilities, Not Freebies and Frolics. Dan Chaon, Transformations. * Peter J. Gomes, Homophobic? Read Your Bible. * Mike Ritter, Cartoon. 6. Crime and Punishment. Introduction. Should Guns Be Regulated? Leonard Kriegel, A Loaded Question: What Is It About Americans and Guns? Roy Innis, Gun Control Sprouts from Racist Soil. Elizabeth Swazey, Women and Handguns. National Rifle Association, Don't Edit the Bill of Rights. Paul Lawton, Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment. Robert Goldwin, Gun Control Is Constitutional. Responses to Robert Goldwin. Daniel Polsby, The False Promise of Gun Control. Capital Punishment. George Orwell, A Hanging. Edward I. Koch, Death and Justice. Jacob Weisberg, This Is Your Death. Doug Marlette, Cartoon. Should Drugs Be Legalized? Kurt Schmoke, A War for the Surgeon General, Not the Attorney General. William Bennett, Should Drugs Be Legalized? Milton Friedman, Prohibition and Drugs. Milton Friedman, An Open Letter to Bill Bennett. William Bennett, A Response to Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman, A Response to William Bennett. * Common Sense For Drug Policy, Wanted: "Drug Czar." * Charles Van Deventer, I'm Proof: The War on Drugs iI Working. 7. Science and Society. Introduction. Should Research on Cloning Be Permitted? Virginia Morell, A Clone of One's Own. Charles Krauthammer, Of (Headless) Mice and Men. * Scott Adams, Dilbert Cartoon. Virginia Postrel, Fatalist Attraction. * John Kilner, Stop Cloning Around. * Kenan Malik, The Moral Clone (essay). How Should We Fight AIDS? Hanna Rosin, The Homecoming. Ann Louise Bardach, The White Cloud. AIDS Prevention Posters. Jesse Green, Flirting with Suicide. * At What Price Wilderness? * John Muir, Save Hetch Hetchy Valley! * Wallace Stegner, A Wilderness Letter. * William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness. * Samuel P. Hayes, Response to William Cronon. What Do You Make of the Internet? John Perry Barlow, Is There a There in Cyberspace? M. Kadi, Welcome to Cyberia. Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community. Stephen Doheny-Farina, Immersive Virtualists and Wired Communitarians. David Horsey, roken Promises of the Computer Age. Author/Title Index.