Introduction: Writing for your life. The rhetorical situation -- The writing process -- Dealing with writer's block -- Planning -- Drafting -- Revision -- Editing. 1. Writing to record a memory. Death Valley / Edward Abbey -- Levi's / Marilyn Schiel -- The contest / Michael Dorris -- Finishing school / Maya Angelou -- Gators / Geoffrey Norman -- Taking the test / David Groff -- Life with father / Itabari Njeri. 2. Writing to explore the self. On keeping a notebook / Joan Didion -- My conversion / Steven Barboza -- Grub / Scott Russell Sanders -- Hold the mayonnaise / Julia Alvarez -- The seam of the snail / Cynthia Ozick -- From outside, in / Barbara Mellix -- The death of a moth / Annie Dillard.
3. Writing to explore an idea. The art of teaching science / Lewis Thomas -- Land of plenty / James Fallows -- "Mommy, what does 'nigger' mean?" / Gloria Naylor -- Tools of torture / Phyllis Rose -- Marrakech / George Orwell -- How to build a slaughterhouse / Richard Selzer. 4. Writing to report information. No wonder they call me a bitch / Ann Hodgman -- Audrey Hepburn / Caryn James -- Redfellas / Claire Sterling -- A share of the river / Sam Bingham -- Tough break / Tim Rogers -- The dark side of tomatoes / Raymond Sokolov -- The doberman case / John Sedgwick.
5. Writing to interpret information. Shouting "Fire!" / Alan M. Dershowitz -- Women's brains / Stephen Jay Gould -- Coming-of-age / Catharine R. Stimpson -- Waiting for the weekend / Witold Rybczynski -- Gossip / Sissela Bok -- Cuteness / Daniel Harris. 6. Writing to evaluate something. The greatness of Billie / Ralph de Toledano -- All-season tires / Consumer Reports -- Someone to watch over us / James S. Gordon -- Hollywood and the Holocaust / John Gross -- Washington's stillborn behemoth / Ada Louise Huxtable -- Fenimore Cooper's literary offenses / Mark Twain.
7. Writing to amuse others. Desperately seeking a dishwasher / Judith Rogala -- Breakfast at the FDA cafe / John R. Alden -- Farewell to fitness / Mike Royko -- Old friends / Andy Rooney -- Santa's little helper / David Sedaris -- Your basic language snob / Joseph Epstein. 8. Writing to move others. I have a dream / Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Courage in the face of controversy / Henry Kissinger -- A Mickey Mantle Koan / David James Duncan -- Daddy tucked the blanket / Randall Williams -- Am I blue? / Alice Walker -- On behalf of the insane poor / Dorothea Dix -- A modest proposal / Jonathan Swift.
9. Writing to persuade others. Clean up or pay up / Louis Barbash -- The environmental mindset / Rush Limbaugh III -- What's wrong with animal rights / Vicki Hearne -- Tourist, stay home / Haunani-Kay Trask -- The Declaration of Independence / Thomas Jefferson -- Here comes the groom / Andrew Sullivan -- Letter from Birmingham jail / Martin Luther King, Jr. 10. Writing to understand reading. Abalone, abalone, abalone / Toshio Mori -- Winners / Lon Otto -- Shopping / Joyce Carol Oates -- Lullaby / Leslie Marmon Silko -- Power / Audre Lorde -- Off from swing shift / Garrett Hongo -- Black hair / Gary Soto -- Nani / Alberto Rios -- Sonnet 116 / William Shakespeare -- The driving range / Leslie Adrienne Miller -- Ulysses / Alfred Lord Tennyson -- Pied beauty / Gerald Manley Hopkins -- Trifles / Susan Glaspell.
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