Thematic Table of Contents for
The New Humanities Reader

What should students entering college spend their time writing and thinking about?

We think that the best way to get students to think seriously about writing is to give them serious problems to think about–-problems that don't have easy answers, problems that can only be understood over time.

There is no shortage of such problems in the world today and the breadth of the readings in the NHR makes putting together a thematically-based curriculum a relatively easy matter. Below, you'll find samples of thematically-based sequences that focus on what we believe to be the most pressing issues and problems of the day–-the kinds of issues and problems that, in turn, provide students with the best opportunity to generate writing that really does matter.

Making Sense of Violence

Peter Ho Davies: "What You Know."
Annie Dillard: "The Wreck of Time: Taking Our Century's Measure."
Malcolm Gladwell: "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York Crime."
Mary Kaldor: "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control."
Beth Loffreda: "Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder."
James C. Scott, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance."

World Religion and World Secularity

Lila Abu-Lughod: "Honor and Shame"
Karen Armstrong: "Does God Have A Future?"
Jonathan Boyarin: "Waiting for a Jew: Marginal Redemptions at the Eight Street Shul."
Stephen Jay Gould: "What Does the Dreaded ‘E' World Mean, Anyway?"
Alexander Stille: "The Ganges' Next Life."
Jan Willis: "Selections from Dreaming Me: An African American Woman's Spiritual Journey."

Changing the World

Benjamin Barber: "Time, Work, and Leisure in a Civil Society"
Jasper Becker: "Selections for Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine."
Peter Drucker; "The Age of Social Transformation."
Lani Guinier: "Second Proms and Second Primaries: The Limits of Majority Rule"
Hazel Henderson: "Perfecting Democracy's Tools."
Martha Nussbaum: "Women and Cultural Universals."

Education: Learning, Conforming, and Knowing

Lila Abu-Lughod: "Honor and Shame."
Susan Faludi: "The Naked Citadel."
Henry Petroski: "Selections from To Engineer is Human."
James C. Scott, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance."
Mitchell Stephens: "Thinking ‘Above the Stream': New Philosophies."
Deborah Tannen: "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."

The Environment

David Abram: "The Ecology of Magic."
Jane Goodall: "Selections from Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe."
Michael Pollan: "Playing God in the Garden."
Eric Schlosser: "Global Realization."
Alexander Stille: "The Ganges' Next Life."
Frans de Waal: "Selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master."

Medicine and the Arts of Healing

David Abram: "The Ecology of Magic."
Marcia Angell: "Science in the Courtroom: Opinions without Evidence."
Stephen Hall: "Prescription for Profit."
Michael Pollan: "Playing God in the Garden."
Alexander Stille: "The Ganges' Next Life."
Ian Wilmut: "Cloning People."

Gender

Lila Abu-Lughod: "Honor and Shame."
Susan Faludi: "The Naked Citadel."
Jon Krakauer: "Selections from Into the Wild."
Beth Loffreda: "Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder."
Martha Nussbaum: "Women and Cultural Universals."
Ian Wilmut: "Cloning People."

Evolution

Jane Goodall: "Selections from Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe."
Stephen Jay Gould: "What Does the Dreaded ‘E' World Mean, Anyway?"
Michael Pollan: "Playing God in the Garden."
Alexander Stille: "The Ganges' Next Life."
Frans de Waal: "Selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master."
Ian Wilmut: "Cloning People."

Art and the Making of Meaning

Peter Ho Davies: "What You Know."
Annie Dillard: "The Wreck of Time: Taking Our Century's Measure."
Ellen Dissanayake: "The Core of Art: Making Special."
Henry Petroski: "Selections from To Engineer is Human."
Michael Pollan: "Playing God in the Garden."
James C. Scott, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance."

Economics and Justice

Marcia Angell: "Science in the Courtroom: Opinions without Evidence."
Benjamin Barber: "Time, Work, and Leisure in a Civil Society"
Jasper Becker: "Selections for Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine."
Eric Schlosser: "Global Realization"
James C. Scott, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance."
Frans de Waal: "Selections from The Ape and the Sushi Master."

Culture and Performance

David Abram: "The Ecology of Magic."
Susan Faludi: "The Naked Citadel."
James C. Scott, "Domination and the Arts of Resistance."
Mitchell Stephens: "Thinking ‘Above the Stream': New Philosophies."
Deborah Tannen: "The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue."
Jan Willis: "Selections from Dreaming Me: An African American Woman's Spiritual Journey."