Thematic Table of Contents

What should students entering college spend their time writing and thinking about?

We think that the best way to get students to think seriously about writing is to give them serious problems to think about–-problems that don't have easy answers, problems that can only be understood over time.

There is no shortage of such problems in the world today and the breadth of the readings in the NHR makes putting together a thematically-based curriculum a relatively easy matter. Below, you'll find samples of thematically-based sequences that focus on what we believe to be the most pressing issues and problems of the day–-the kinds of issues and problems that, in turn, provide students with the best opportunity to generate writing that really does matter.

Making Sense of Violence

How do we confront acts of violence that seem incomprehensible, unquantifiable, or endemic? Violence is such a significant part of human society, but it often defies easy explanation. In fact, it seems to be the quintessential, random element that thwarts the reasonable expectations we have for society, erupting explosively and unexpectedly. These authors attempt to approach or begin to make sense of a force that often seems insensible and insane.

Ahmed, Leila. "On Becoming an Arab."

Bacevich, Andrew J. "The Real World War IV."

Gilbert, Daniel. "Immune to Reality."
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime," The Tipping Point.
Loffreda, Beth. "Selections from Losing Matt Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder."

Twenge, Jean. "An Army of One: Me."

World Religion and World Secularity

The relationship between religious traditions and civil society has always been one of paramount importance for the world's peoples. Increasingly, cultures and religions from around the globe are coalescing and clashing simultaneously, with mixed results. These new combinations are often productive of new insights and new perspectives, some of which are explored by these authors.

Ahmed, Leila. "On Becoming an Arab."

Bacevich, Andrew J. "The Real World War IV."

Boyarin, Jonathan. "Waiting for a Jew: Marginal Redemption at the Eighth Street Shul." Thinking in Jewish.

Caplan, Bryan. "'Market Fundamentalism' Versus the Religion of Democracy."

Luhrmann, Tanya M. "Metakinesis: How God Becomes Intimate in Contemporary U.S. Christianity."
Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom." Infinite Life.

Education: Learning, Conforming, and Knowing

As important as everyone seems to agree it is, we rarely think about the basis of education. How are we taught? How do we teach? And what is the goal of pedagogy? These authors consider the ways in which educational methods shape students and, ultimately, the world in which we live. They also explore the conflicts that arise within educational systems and within societies that seek to control them.

Boyarin, Jonathan. "Waiting for a Jew: Marginal Redemption at the Eighth Street Shul." Thinking in Jewish.

Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel." The New Yorker.

Krakauer, Jon. "Selections from Into the Wild."

Luhrmann, Tanya M. "Metakinesis: How God Becomes Intimate in Contemporary U.S. Christianity."
Nafisi, Azar. Excerpt from Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue." The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue.

The Future of the Environment: Evolution and Human Ingenuity

These authors consider the relationship between human nature and the natural world. This includes different ways we might understand the natural world, how we affect and interact with the environment, and what our own genetic dispositions have to teach us about ourselves.

Abram, David. "The Ecology of Magic." The Spell of the Sensuous.

Davis, Devra. "Presumed Innocent."

Krakauer, Jon. "Selections from Into the Wild."

Siebert, Charles. "An Elephant Crackup?"

Steingraber, Sandra. "War."

Twenge, Jean. "An Army of One: Me."

Medical Practice and the Arts of Healing

What the authors in this section have in common is their interest in restoration: what the most sensitive and equitable way is to repair damage done to our minds, bodies, and environment. The arts of healing often raise social and political questions, as well, however, and these questions stimulate from these authors some of the most provocative responses.

Davis, Devra. "Presumed Innocent."

Sacks, Oliver. "The Mind's Eye." The New Yorker.

Steingraber, Sandra. "War."
Stock, Gregory. "The Enhanced and the Unenhanced." Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future.
Stout, Martha. "When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday." The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness.

Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom." Infinite Life.

Gender

Gender is often characterized as a social construction. Our expectations about how persons of particular genders should behave typically inform how we behave toward them and how we ourselves behave. These authors explore the process of constructing identity and some of its more devastating consequences.

Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel." The New Yorker.

Jenkins, Henry. "Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Harry Potter Wars."
Krakauer, Jon. "The Alaska Interior" and "The Stampede Trail." Selections from Into the Wild.
Loffreda, Beth. "Selections from Losing Matt Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder."

O'Brien, Tim. "How to Tell a True War Story."

Solnit, Rebecca. "The Solitary Stroller and the City."

Art and the Making of Meaning

Academic scholarship is not the only way to produce knowledge. Personal experience and artistic, even irrational, speculations also play an important role in determining how we perceive the world. These authors, some of them creative writers themselves, explore the creation of meaning through art and experience in direct and indirect ways.

Dillard, Annie. "The Wreck of Time: Taking Our Century's Measure." Harper's.

Gilbert, Daniel. "Immune to Reality."

Kenneally, Christine. "You Have Gestures."

Nafisi, Azar. Excerpt from Reading Lolita in Tehran.
O'Brien, Tim. "How to Tell a True War Story." The Things They Carried.
Postrel, Virginia. "Surface and Substance." The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness.

Tenner, Edward. "Another Look Back and a Look Ahead."

Economics and Justice

The distribution of wealth is closely linked to the distribution of justice. Some of these authors explore the effects, frequently disastrous for rich and poor alike, of imbalances in those distributions. Others suggest ways of associating political freeedom with economic freedom and discuss the benefits for the former of making the latter more available. Whatever their principal area of concern, they all support the notion that freedom is the product of human will--as is economics.

Caplan, Bryan. "'Market Fundamentalism' Versus the Religion of Democracy."

Greider, William. "Work Rules." The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy.

Nafisi, Azar. Excerpt from Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Postrel, Virginia. "Surface and Substance." The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness.

Rivoli, Pietra. "Dogs Snarling Together: How Politics Came to Rule the Global Apparel Trade.

Singer, Peter and Jim Mason. "Meat and Milk Factories."

Culture and Performance

To what extent is a lifestyle akin to a performance? Do we deliberately perform ourselves or are our performances the product of a larger social context? These authors offer different takes on these questions, demonstrating in what ways and in what ways we may not have control over our own cultural performances.

Abram, David. "The Ecology of Magic." The Spell of the Sensuous.
Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel." The New Yorker.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime," The Tipping Point.

Kenneally, Christine. "You Have Gestures."
Stout, Martha. "When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday." The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness.
Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue." The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue.

Democracy in the Age of Globalization

Globalization seems to be the number one contemporary social issue. Proponents claim it will raise standards of living throughout the world. Detractors blame it for human rights abuses in developing nations. But what is it? What effects is it having, positive and negative? What effects is it having that are not so easily judged? Not all of these authors address globalization directly, but they all do address its consequences.

Bacevich, Andrew J. "The Real World War IV."

Chua, Amy. "A World on the Edge." Wilson Quarterly.

Greider, William. "Work Rules." The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy.

Johnson, Steven. "The Myth of the Ant Queen."

Rivoli, Pietra. "Dogs Snarling Together: How Politics Came to Rule the Global Apparel Trade.

Steingraber, Sandra. "War."

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