With 71 selections, this brief text-reader offers a clear and concise introduction to argument and an exceptionally broad range of short arguments on contemporary issues.

Table of Contents:
* indicates a selection new to this edition PART I: CURRENT CONTROVERSIES FROM THREE POINTS OF VIEW 1. WHAT KIND OF JUSTICE DO TERRORISTS DESERVE? * William Safire, Kangaroo Courts * Michelle Mulkin, No More Jury Trials for Terrorists * Jim Mann, Wartime Powers, But No War 2. ARE SUVS BAD SPORTS? *Fran Wood, "Attacks on SUV Drivers are Driving Me Up the Wall" *Paul Craig Roberts, "Fuel Economy Laws Bite Back" *Brock Yates, "Pecksnifs Can't Stop the SUV" 3. SHOULD WE REGULATE CELL PHONES? *Paul Mulshine, "End the Hands-off Policy on Cell Phone Users" *Kathleen O'Brian, "All I Wanted Was to Call the Pizzeria" *E. J. Dionne, "Tough Call on Cell Phones" 4. SHOULD WE LEGALIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE? *William Raspberry, "Why Fear Same-sex Marriage?" *Maggie Gallagher, "It's the Final Step in Killing Marriage" *Andrew Sullivan, "Committed Couples Would Stabilize Society" 5. FREEDOM AND THE INTERNET *Duncan Levin, G-Men and Email *Maureen Farsan, Shouting Fire in a Virtual Theater *Wendy Kaminer, Screen Saviors 6. DOES AMERICA OWE REPARATIONS FOR SLAVERY? *Manning Marable, "An Idea Whose Time Has Come" *Mona Charen, "Reparations Question Won't Go Away" *Thomas Sowell, Reparations Create Black Victims" 7. ANIMAL TESTING Cleveland Amory, "The Trials of Animals" Ron Kline, "A Scientist: 'I Am The Enemy'" Meg Greenfield, "In Defense of the Animals" 8. THE RICH: SAINTS OR SINNERS? Rhonda Burns, "Downsizing the Middle Class" Paul Craig Roberts, "The Poor Have Enslaved The Rich" Dan Moran, "King's Ransom" 9. HATE CRIMES AND JUSTICE Charley Reese, "Hate Crime Laws Are a Bad Idea" Helen Dodge, "Special Crimes Need Special Laws" Samuel Francis, "'Hate Crime' Laws Change the Law" 10. TOYS FOR TOTS Yona Zeldis McDonough, "What Barbie Really Taught Me" Robert Atwan, "A Meditation on Barbie Dolls" Sara Bird, "The Q Gene" 11. SHOULD FLAG BURNING BE MADE UNCONSTITUTIONAL? Cal Thomas, Burned Up Over Flag Burning Maria Hernandez, My Flag - Burn It and Burn Don Feder, An Amendment Is Not the Way to Honor the Flag 12. EUTHANASIA Derek Humphry, "Offering Euthanasia Can Be An Act Of Love" Matthew E. Connolly, "Euthanasia Is Not The Answer" Nancy M. Lederman, :Must They Tinker With The Dying?" 13. WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT TOBACCO? Sally Chen, "Smoking is Bad for Everyone So It Should be Illegal" Linda Bowles, "Big Brother's Two-Minute Hate" Walter E. Williams, "The Tyranny of the Majority" 14. WHAT BOOKS SHOULD STUDENTS READ? Robert M. Hutchins, "Preface to The Great Conversation" Bob Swift, "On Reading Trash" Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Whose Canon Is It, Anyway? It's Not Just Anglo-Saxon" 15. MODERN MANNERS Miss Manners, "Rudeness Can Be Lethal" Stephen Chapman, "Public Servants Often Behave Like Masters" Marianne M. Jennings, "Who's Harassing Whom?" 16. SHOULD ENGLISH BE THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES? U.S. English, "In Support of Our Common Language" Richard Rodriguez, "Gains and Losses" Ishmael Reed, "How Not To Get the Infidel To Talk The King's Talk" PART II: SINGLE ESSAYS ON CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS 1. *Jeff Jacoby, "Who's White? Who's Hispanic? Who Cares? 2. Ellen Ullman, "Needed: Techies Who Know Shakespeare" 3, *Chuck D., "'Free' Music Can Free the Artist" 4. Joanne Jacobs, "End the War on Drugs" 5. Dick Boland, "Serving Time The Old Fashioned Way" 6. Cathy Young, "Women Sex and Rape" 7. *Jim Barszcz, "Can You Be Educated From a Distance?" 8. *Mona Charen, "Living Together: Test Run for Loneliness" 9. *Linda Chavez, Scientists Keep Crossing the Line on Cloning 10. Walter Williams, "Government is the Problem" PART III: READING AND RESPONDING TO VISUAL ARGUMENTS Editorial Cartoons *Drew Sheneman, Cartooning Isn't Funny Business Advertisements *PETA Humorous Cartoons *Viking *Panhandler *Missle Defense System PART IV: MOVING TO LONGER ARGUMENTS Jonathan Swift, "A Modest Proposal" *Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Address to the National Woman Suffrage Convention Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" PART V: A MINICASEBOOK ON CENSORING ROCK AND RAP Fred Bronson, "A Selected Chronology of Musical Controversy" Anna Quindlen, "Raised on Rock-and-Roll" Frank Zappa, "On 'Junk Food for the Soul'" Tipper Gore, "Curbing the Sexploitation Industry" Brian K. Simmons, "The Effect of Censorship on Attitudes toward Popular Music" Michael Kinsley, "Ice-T: The Issue Is Social Responsibility" Barbara Ehrenreich, "Ice-T: The Issue Is Free Speech" Sam Brownback, "Free Speech: Lyrics, Liberty, and License" Douglas M. McLeod, William P. Eveland, Jr., and Amy I. Nathanson, "Support for Censorship of Violent and Misogynic Rap Lyrics" Dan Moran, Censorship Begins at Home PART VI: A GUIDE TO FINDING AND USING INFORMATION Locating Information in the Library and on the Internet The Library and the Internet Reliability Comprehensiveness The Medium Locating Books The Library Catalog Online Catalogs and Databases Call Numbers and the Stacks Locating Articles in Print Periodicals The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Newspaper Indexes Indexes to Scholarly Journals Abstracts Government Documents Locating Articles in Electronic Format BOX: Evaluating Online Sources Taking Notes Be Organized Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote Using Your Notes Plagiarism BOX: Academic Honesty and the Internet Documenting Sources The MLA System Parenthetical References List of Works Cited BOX: Documenting Electronic Sources -- MLA Style The APA System Parenthetical References List of References BOX: Documenting Electronic Sources -- APA Style Sample Student Research Paper: MLA Style Sample Paper Format: APA Style