Product Details
The Bedford Reader

The Bedford Reader
By X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, Jane E. Aaron

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Product Description

One of the most widely adopted composition readers of all time, The Bedford Reader continues to engage and inspire students with remarkable selections, outstanding instructional material, and a unique "Writers on Writing" feature in which 50 of the book’s writers comment on their process and their work. Thorough coverage of critical reading, effective writing, and working with sources guides students, now more than ever, through their own academic writing. And an exciting visual dimension shows that rhetorical methods apply to both images and text.

The Bedford Reader is a favorite of students for the Kennedys’ clarity and wit, of instructors for the flexible and realistic view of the rhetorical methods, and of both for the superior selections and perceptive commentaries by writers worth reading.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #144652 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-02-06
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 800 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

X. J. KENNEDY is an acclaimed poet, children’s writer, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Tufts University. Since 1966, more than two million students have treasured his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Guide for College Writers, Eighth Edition (2008), coauthored with Dorothy M. Kennedy and Marcia F. Muth.

DOROTHY M. KENNEDY is a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She has taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, is the recipient of the NCTE Teacher’s Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry.

JANE E. AARON is a respected writer and editor who has taught composition at New York University and New School University. For Bedford/St. Martin’s she is the author of The Compact Reader, Eighth Edition (2008), and 40 Model Essays: A Portable Anthology (2005).

Customer Reviews

The Best I've Ever Seen5
I was required to get this book for an Intermediate Composition course in college and it has to be the best college textbook I have ever had. First there is a wide variety of stories to choose from and at least one will appeal to everyone. Even though it is a educational textbook I still read it in my leisure time, as well.

Each work demands the reader's attention in its own way.4
My high school English class analyzes two essays from the book every grading period. I have seldom had an assignment that I enjoy so much; after analyzing the first essay assigned (Homeless), I sat back to think about what the writer had expressed. The essays are thought provoking and demand attention. The Bedford Reader is a book that I would recommend for the sheer enjoyment of exploring one's own mind and escaping to the world of another's.

A college instructor's perspective...4
As an English instructor at a community college, this collection as a text for essay writing offers great appeal with its diversity in voices, cultures, topics, and points of view (though the explanation of POV needs greater scope). In addition to the writer's bio before each story, one of my favorite features is the writer's shared insights afterward about his or her story, writing process, personal background, or career development (students enjoy this feature, too); and, there are discussion questions with "Suggested Journaling ideas," and suggestions for rewriting "Journals into Essays," that help students who always ask "What do I write about?" Story length as reading assignments are manageable for time-crunched, back-to-schoolers with already-full plates--juggling jobs, kids, and classes--and little time for 400-page novels. It may not be my text of choice for teaching argument and research, but as an introduction, it works.