The New World Reader: Thinking and Writing about the Global Community

With compelling selections by some of the world's most respected and critically acclaimed writers, The New World Reader encourages exploration of some of the most significant global challenges of the 21st century. Students consider topics that affect their lives, such as the challenges and consequences of globalization, global warming, bilingual education, and redefined gender roles. Challenged by such notable contemporary thinkers and writers as Richard Rodriguez, Bharati Mukherjee, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Kofi Annan, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Arundhati Roy, students develop their reading and critical-thinking skills. A consistent pedagogical apparatus includes brief chapter introductions, author headnotes, and pre-reading questions that offer students a preview of the central theme in each section. Exercise sets follow each essay, providing for writing, reading, discussion, and exploration opportunities.

This multicultural, thematic reader takes on thought-provoking, global issues. The New World Reader presents first-year writing students with 66 timely essays by established writers on the most significant issues of the post-September 11th world. Working with recently published selections from well-known writers, students will have the opportunity to consider such strategic questions as the changing face of America, the challenges and consequences of globalization, the just response to terror, the international digital revolution, and the fate of the global environment. Challenged by notable contemporary thinkers and writers, students will be encouraged—individually and as members of a community—to come to grips with a world that is now subject to complex transformations.

Gilbert H. Muller is a Professor Emeritus of English at LaGuardia Community College and the author of several college textbooks as well as scholarly books on William Cullen Bryant and Flannery O'Connor.