The River Reader

From the simple to the more complex, a range of readings appears throughout the text, while paired readings offer pro and con perspectives on hot topics.

Annotated and alternate thematic tables of contents facilitate syllabus building and offer flexibility in planning.

An introductory section promotes active reading, with Guidelines for Reading an Essay, a sample analysis of an essay, and Guidelines for Writing an Essay. Accompanying questions concerning purpose, audience, and strategy help students think critically about writing.

Visual texts, including one photograph per chapter and an eight-page color photo essay, emphasize the power of images to evoke insights and ideas. They also provide new ways for students to create writing topics based on what they see.

A new casebook, "The Family," presents variations on the theme of the family. The eight essays and one short story, which are arranged to repeat the patterns presented in the seven rhetorical chapters, illustrate how such strategies enable a writer to investigate a theme from a variety of perspectives.

An eight-page, full-color photographic essay, "Images of The Family," emphasizes the power of images to evoke ideas and insights. Each image is followed by a writing assignment that encourages students to connect what they see with what they read and plan to write.

An updated chapter on documenting sources includes a new student sample that incorporates the 2009 MLA update.