书名：The Signet Book of American Essays
作者：M. Jerry Weiss; Helen S. Weiss
出版社名称：Signet Classics
出版时间：2006
语种：英文
ISBN：9780451530219
商品尺寸：10.7 x 2.6 x 16.9 cm
包装：简装
页数：348 （以实物为准）

The Signet Book of American Essays《美国经典短文集》收录了美国历史上极具影响力的28位名人的重要思想言论及演说，内容涉及范围从文学、教育到女权主义不等。全书主要以节选如《富兰克林自传》、爱因斯坦《论教育》等励志著作的经典篇章为主，可谓是一本美国作家的名文选集。本书适合有一定英文水平的美国文学爱好者阅读。

These are Americans who had something important to say and said it in powerful, convincing ways. A compendium of commentary, criticism, and oratory excellence from throughout the nation s history, The Signet Book of American Essays is a perfect resource for those searching for the most timeless essays ever conceived by America s notable scientists, philosophers, politicians, and writers.
From the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin to the outspoken empowerment of Gloria Steinem, from the biting satire of Mark Twain to the grave seriousness of Franklin D. Roosevelt, this collection offers the opportunity to learn the subtle arts of persuasion and rational argument as exemplified in these great American dissertations crafted by some of the country s most brilliant and intriguing citizens.

In this collection…
Benjamin Franklin stresses the importance of literacy in a piece taken from his autobiography.
Cotton Mather’s first hand record of the Salem witch trials exposes the dangers of religious fervor and fanaticism.
Gloria Steinem forwards her own inimitable brand of feminist individualism and freedom of choice.
Albert Einstein comments on education and its place in the future of human development.
Plus other commentaries and musing from some of the most important and famous figures in American history.

M. Jerry Weiss isthe distinguishedserviceprofessor ofcommunicationsemeritus atNew Jersey City University.He is the author or editor ofnumerousworks onliterature and education.Helen S. Weissis a freelance author/editor. Together they have edited seven anthologies for young adult readers. They live in UpperMontclair, New Jersey.

Introduction
Aspects of Literacy
Benjamin Franklin / From The Autobiography
Katherine Peterson / “Why?”
Eudora Wetly /“Writing and Analyzinga Story”
Sam Pickering /“Composing a Life”
Richard Lederer /“The Miracle of Language”
On Education
Ralph Waldo Emerson /“The American Scholar”
W.E.B. Dubois /“Of the Coming of John”
Albert Einstein /“On Education”
Religious Fervor
Cotton Mather /“The Trial of Bridget Bishop, Alias Oliver, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held at Salem”
Abraham Joshua Heschel /“The Meaning ofThis Hour”
Neal Osterow /“Making Sense of the Nonsensical: An Analysis of Jonestown”
Intellectual Freedom
Leonard Everett Fisher /“Censorship and the Arts”
Lance Morrow /“In Praise of Huckleberry Finn”
Judith Krug /“Intellectual Freedom, Libraries, and Censorship”
Women Speak Out
Abagail Adams /“Letterto John Adams”
Gloria Steinem /“A New Egalitarian Life Style”
Sandra Cisneros /“Only Daughter”
Hillary Rodham Clinton /“Remarks to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Plenary Session”
Anna Quindlen /“The War We Haven't Won”
Individual Rights
Henry David Thoreau / “Civil Disobedience”
Martin Luther King. Jr. / “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
On the Lighter Side
George Plimpton /“Desperately Seeking Humor”
Mark Twain /“Advice to Youth”
Erma Bombeck /“Warning: Families May Be Dangerous to Your Health”
America at the Crossroads
Abraham Lincoln /“Second Inaugural Address”
Franklin D. Roosevelt / “Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan”
Dwight D. Eisenhower / “Farewell Adress”
John F. Kennedy /“Special Message to Congress on the Defense Budget”
Biographies

From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books. Pleased with the Pilgrim’s Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan’s works in separate little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton’s Historical Collections; they were smallChapmen’s books, and cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My father’s little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was now resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch’s Lives there was in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of De Foe’s, called an Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather’s, called Essays to do God, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life.