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."

Gilbert, Daniel. "Immune to Reality."
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime."
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."
Siebert, Charles. "An Elephant Crackup?"

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.

Armstrong, Karen. "Homo religiosus."
Ahmed, Leila. "On Becoming an Arab."

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

Nafisi, Azar. "'Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books."

Pallasmaa, Juhani. "Excerpts from The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses."
Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom."

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."

Carr, Nicholas."Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

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

Krakauer, Jon. "Selections from Into the Wild."
Nafisi, Azar."'Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books."
Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."

The Future of the Environment

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.

Fraser, Caroline. "Rewilding North America."

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

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

Siebert, Charles. "An Elephant Crackup?"

Specter, Michael. "A Life of Its Own."

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

Health and 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.

Armstrong, Karen. "Homo religiosus."

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

Siebert, Charles. "An Elephant Crackup?"
Stout, Martha. "When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday."

Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom."

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

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."
Krakauer, Jon. "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."

Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."

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.

Gilbert, Daniel. "Immune to Reality."

Kenneally, Christine. "You Have Gestures."

Nafisi, Azar."'Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books."
O'Brien, Tim. "How to Tell a True War Story." The Things They Carried.
Pallasmaa, Juhani. "Excerpts from The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses."

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

Economics, Inequality, 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.

Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel."

Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime."

Nafisi, Azar."'Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books."

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

Specter, Michael. "A Life of Its Own."

Wedel, Janine R. "Confidence Men and Their Flex Lives."

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.

Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel."
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime."

Kenneally, Christine. "You Have Gestures."

Nafisi, Azar."'Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books."

Pallasmaa, Juhani. "Excerpts from The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses."
Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."

The Future of Democracy

What does it mean to live in a democracy? What are the responsibilities of individuals, and of the state? And what are the consequences of recent developments in technology and social organization for democracy's future? All of these authors are engaged with democracy in a way that goes beyond thinking about politics and government.

Carr, Nicholas."Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Faludi, Susan. "The Naked Citadel."

Loffreda, Beth. "Selections from Losing Matt Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder."

Specter, Michael. "A Life of Its Own."

Tannen, Deborah. "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."

Wedel, Janine R. "Confidence Men and Their Flex Lives."

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