Uncommon Threads: Reading and Writing about Contemporary America

By Robert D. Newman, Melissa Carol Johnson, Jean A. Bohner, et al.

This new popular culture reader encourages students to consider alternative and complex perspectives on the contemporary issues and concerns that affect them daily and to make critical connections... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321026640
• ISBN13: 9780321026644
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
• Length: 545 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent purchase

Book was in really great shape like promised and was sent quickly. A satisfying purchase.

Learn how to examine pop culture with an open mind.

Uncommon Threads has been a great book. It combines many genres: short stories, magazine articles, a film still, poetry, lyrics, advertisements, and cartoons to enable one to look deeply into pop culture. This book will help one examine and analyze pop culture with an open-minded approach. Moreover, for most topics discussed, more than one view-point is presented, which allows one to form an opinion on a topic with a better understanding. Also, the open-ended discussion questions following the texts within the book make one think about things in many different ways. For example, I have learned to examine advertisements from many different angles. It's amazing what words are to be interpreted from an advertisement.Furthermore, many contemporary issues are discussed in Uncommon Threads; such as, Nature Vs. Nurture, Self Identity, Family Values, defining culture, life styles, attitudes, love and conflict, the American Dream, Genders' affect on heroism, Fashion and Spirituality, advertising and values; and dying and healing. All of the topics discussed seem to have no connection, but somehow all of the topics are intertwined. For instance, how is love and conflict, or romance and capitalism connected? From reading the texts in Uncommon Threads, many seemingly unconnected thoughts become intertwined.

An Exceptional Reader

This is the best reader I've seen for composition students--it could be used for classes in popular culture as well. The selections are both interesting and thoughtful, with quite a depth in their analyses of various topics. Students will find immediate applications to the ways they think about themselves and the world. Similarly, the commentaries are as well-written and interesting as the choice of articles (and worth reading by themselves, even). The questions and projects at the end of each section offer a wide range of ideas, from everyday classroom questions to more challening projects.