The Generation of Ideas

For students of beginning composition, Miller (Suffolk U.) has assembled both classical and contemporary readings about generational and individual identity. They address interrelated themes so students can focus on the writing rather than having to shift modes of thinking between each assignment. In addition to such conventional essayists as Rose, hooks, Walker, and Emerson, they include some unfamiliar ones, such as Hell's Angel leader Sonny Barger, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, punk singer Johnny Rotten, and an anonymous writer known as Melanie. There is no subject index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Quentin Miller is Associate Professor of English at Suffolk University in Boston, where he teaches composition, fiction writing, and literature. He is the author of JOHN UPDIKE AND THE COLD WAR, and the editor of RE-VIEWING JAMES BALDWIN: THINGS NOT SEEN. He is also the editor of the forthcoming PROSE AND CONS: NEW ESSAYS ON CONTEMPORARY U.S. PRISON LITERATURE, and coauthor of the literature for composition textbooks CONNECTIONS. His articles have appeared in such journals as "American Literature", "Legacy: