Look Inside Look Inside Cover: American Literature and Rhetoric, 2nd Edition by Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon

American Literature and Rhetoric

Second Edition ©2025 Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon

Flexible and innovative, American Literature & Rhetoric, Second Edition is a unique American literature anthology for 11th graders that connects the issues of the past to the present. With this new edition, it’s easier than ever to teach 11th-grade American literature chronologic...

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ISBN:9781319548940

ISBN:9781319550622

Look Inside Look Inside Cover: American Literature and Rhetoric, 2nd Edition by Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon

Make Meaningful Connections

Flexible and innovative, American Literature & Rhetoric, Second Edition is a unique American literature anthology for 11th graders that connects the issues of the past to the present. With this new edition, it’s easier than ever to teach 11th-grade American literature chronologically, thematically, or by genre.

Chapters 1-4 build essential reading and annotation skills for the American literature course. Chapters 5-10 begin with writing workshops before moving into an engaging anthology of the best American nonfiction and literature. While all readings in the book connect to one of eight fundamental themes in American literature, the chapters are organized chronologically, with a twist: Chapter 5 covers the twenty-first century. Beginning with contemporary texts immediately engages students with timeless themes and enduring issues — and also helps teachers solve the age-old problem of how to stop American literature from being stuck in the past.

Features

Opening Chapters introduce key reading skills.
With equal attention to nonfiction and literature, Chapters 1–4 provide genre-specific:
  • Step-by-step instruction on close reading techniques
  • High-interest exemplar readings
  • Key Questions to prompt targeted analysis
  • Activities throughout to scaffold skill-building

Anthology Chapters welcome both thematic and chronological approaches.
Each anthology chapter curates selections from a distinct era of American history, facilitating a chronological approach to instruction.
For those who prefer a thematic approach, we’ve also included a Thematic Table of Contents, which maps out each text’s alignment to at least one of nine enduring themes in American literature.
  • Writing Workshops walk through six essays step by step.
  • Contextualizing features weave together American history and American literature.
  • Visuals and outside texts offer enrichment.
  • Comprehensive questions provide targeted practice for key reading and writing skills.
  • TalkBacks highlight thematic connections across eras.
  • Conversations reinforce evidence-based argument skills.
  • End-of-chapter prompts reinforce key skills.

A complete resource package supports students and teachers.
  • Grammar instruction | Meet students where they are.
  • Teacher’s Edition | Written by Teachers, for Teachers.
  • Teacher’s Resource Materials | Build Your Course Your Way.
  • Achieve | More than Just an e-Book. This is a one-stop shop where students can easily:
    • find their mobile-friendly and fully accessible e-book;
    • increase their understanding with ready-made quizzes;
    • complete online homework or assessments; and
    • monitor their progress with the built-in gradebook.
  • Plus, all of this easily integrates with learning management systems for a seamless classroom experience.
  • LearningCurve | Game-Like Adaptive Quizzing.
  • Test Bank | Your Home for Test Prep.

New to This Edition

  • NEW! Writing Workshops walk students through six different essays step by step. We’ve distinguished between reading skills and writing skills to make it easier to scaffold skill instruction. The opening chapters (Chs. 1-4) provide genre-specific practice reading and interpreting texts, while the anthology chapters (Chs. 5-10) each contain a Writing Workshop guiding students to a complete essay.

  • NEW! Nearly 100 brand-new texts keep the course fresh and exciting. We brought back the texts that work best in your classrooms and incorporated dozens of texts new to this edition. You’ll be sure to spot readings that grab and hold your students’ interest.

  • NEW! Guided Questions with prose make sure students are engaged and on track. We’ve added quick checks for understanding to all anthology chapter prose readings. We placed these Guided Questions within each essay, speech, or short story to ensure students catch key points.

  • NEW! Scaffolded Conversations help students articulate their positions. As always, the Conversation feature at the end of each anthology chapter (Chs. 5-10) brings together diverse perspectives on a key American issue. This time, the Conversations in early anthology chapters (Chs. 5-7) will be shorter and more approachable, with prompts that welcome discussion instead of (or in addition to) essay writing.

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Table of Contents

1 Rhetorical Analysis
The Rhetorical Situation
Rhetorical Appeals
Analyzing Visual Texts: Identifying Rhetorical Appeals
Style
Analyzing Visual Texts: Analyzing Visual Rhetoric
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Rhetoric
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Rhetoric

2 Evidence-Based Argument
Argument
Claims
Evidence
Analyzing Visual Texts: Identifying Bias in Visual Texts
Bringing Together Claims and Evidence 
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Multiple Sources
Finding Your Position
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Multiple Sources

3 Analysis of Fiction
The Big Picture: Literary Elements
Close Reading: Style Elements
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Fiction
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Fiction

4 Analysis of Poetry
Step 1: Reading for Literal Meaning
Step 2: Considering the Speaker
Step 3: Reading for Detail
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Poetry
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Poetry

5 Redefining America: 2001 to the Present
Introduction 2001 to the Present
Writing Workshop: Analysis of Theme in Fiction
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Is the Future of Higher Education?
Suggestions for Writing

6 A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: Beginnings to 1830
Introduction Beginnings to 1830
Writing Workshop: Rhetorical Analysis
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Does the Second Amendment Mean Today?
Suggestions for Writing

7 America in Conflict: 1830‒1865
Introduction 1830‒1865
Writing Workshop: Close Analysis of Fiction
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: Would Reparations Address the Legacy of Slavery?
Suggestions for Writing

8 Reconstructing America: 1865‒1917
Introduction 1830‒1865
Writing Workshop: Argument
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: Has Income Inequality Created a New Gilded Age?
Suggestions for Writing

9 America in the Modern World: 1917–1945
Introduction 1917–1945
Writing Workshop: Analysis of Poetry
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Place Should Cars Occupy in America’s Future?
Suggestions for Writing

10 The Rise of a Superpower: 1945–2000
Introduction 1945–2000
Writing Workshop: Evidence-Based Argument
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: How Much Military Spending Is Enough?
Suggestions for Writing

Headshot of Robin Aufses

Robin Aufses

Robin Dissin Aufses is director of English Studies at Lycée Français de New York, where she teaches AP® English Language and Composition. Previous to this position, Robin was the English department chair and a teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New York, and prior to that she taught English at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York. She taught AP® English Literature and AP® English Language at both schools. She is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, and Conversations in American Literature and has published articles for the College Board on novelist Chang-rae Lee and the novel All the King’s Men.

Headshot of Renee Shea

Renee Shea

Renée H. Shea was professor of English and Modern Languages and director of freshman composition at Bowie State University in Maryland, where she taught graduate seminars in rhetoric. A College Board faculty consultant for more than thirty years in AP® Language and Literature, and Pre-AP® English, she has been a reader and question leader for both AP® English exams. Renée served as a member on many committees for the College Board, including the AP® Language and Composition Development Committee, the English Academic Advisory Committee, and the SAT Critical Reading Test Development Committee. She is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, Conversations in American Literature, Advanced Language & Literature, and Foundations of Language & Literature, as well as volumes on Amy Tan and Zora Neale Hurston for the NCTE High School Literature Series. Renée continues to write about contemporary authors for publications such as World Literature Today, Poets & Writers, and Kenyon Review. Her recent publications focused on Celeste Ng, Imbolo Mbue, Namwali Serpell, Manuel Muñoz, and Ohio’s 2020–2024 poet laureate, Kari Gunter-Seymour.

Headshot of Katherine Cordes

Katherine Cordes

Katherine E. Cordes is a National Board Certified English teacher with a BA in English, psychology, and medieval studies; an MEd in curriculum and instruction; and an MFA in poetry. She has more than twenty years of experience in the secondary English Language Arts classroom and currently teaches AP Seminar®/Honors English 10 and AP® English Literature at Skyview High School in Billings, Montana, where she has also taught dual enrollment college writing and AP® English Language. As part of the College Board’s Instructional Design Team, Katherine contributed to the development, review, and dissemination of the 2019 AP® English Literature Course and Exam Description, and she has been an AP® Reader for the AP® English Literature and AP® Seminar Exams. She is a co-author of Literature & Composition and The Language of Composition.

Headshot of Natalie Landaeta Castillo

Natalie Landaeta Castillo

Natalie Landaeta Castillo currently teaches AP® English Language and Composition, AP® Seminar, and other English electives at her alma mater, Felix Varela Senior High School, in Miami, Florida. She also serves as the College Board Advisor on the AP® Seminar test development committee and as Question Leader for that course’s exam at the AP® Reading. She has led workshops and presentations for AP® teachers both in her county and nationally, in addition to mentoring AP® English Language teachers in her district.

Headshot of Lawrence Scanlon

Lawrence Scanlon

Lawrence Scanlon taught at Brewster High School for more than thirty years and then for another ten years at Iona College in New York. For twenty-five years, he was a Reader and Question Leader for the AP® Language and Composition Exam. As a College Board consultant over that same period of time, he has conducted AP® workshops in both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature throughout the United States and in South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has also provided professional development as a private consultant for many school districts. He served on the PSAT Review Committee and the AP® English Language Test Development Committee. Larry is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, and Conversations in American Literature and has published articles on curriculum and method for the College Board and elsewhere.

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Teacher's Edition with Online Resources for American Literature and Rhetoric

Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon | Second Edition | ©2025 | ISBN:9781319551056

As a new author, what part of writing this book did you most enjoy?

Can the textbook help Literature teachers coordinate with History teachers?

What do you hope students take away from this course?

What in the new edition are you excited for teachers to see?

What is the most fun part of working on an American Literature textbook?

What new reading or new author are you excited about adding to the 2nd edition?