The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature is designed to bring literature to life — and to make students lifelong readers. As an instructor of literature and writing, editor Michael Meyer understands that a particular challenge in today’s classroom is that students may not see literature as relevant to their lives. They may have difficulty reading it critically and lack confidence in their writing skills. With these factors in mind, Meyer has put together a lively collection of literature drawn from many periods, cultures, and voices, with an excellent representation of contemporary authors, women authors, and authors of color. These works are presented with more than a dozen chapters of critical reading and writing support, and a generous helping of sample close readings, writing assignments, and student papers. And, because everyone teaches a little differently, the book offers more options for working with the literature than any comparable anthology — including in-depth chapters on major authors and case studies on individual works and universal themes.
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Michael Meyer has taught writing and literature courses for more than thirty years—since 1981 at the University of Connecticut and before that at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the College of William and Mary. In addition to being an experienced teacher, Meyer is a highly regarded literary scholar. His scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished journals such as American Literature, Studies in the American Renaissance, and Virginia Quarterly Review. An internationally recognized authority on Henry David Thoreau, Meyer is a former president of the Thoreau Society and coauthor (with Walter Harding) of The New Thoreau Handbook, a standard reference source. The American Studies Association awarded his first book, Several More Lives to Live: Thoreau’s Political Reputation in America, the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize. . He is also the editor of Frederick Douglass: The Narrative and Selected Writings. He has lectured on a variety of American literary topics from Cambridge University to Peking University. His books for Bedford/St. Martin's include The Bedford Introduction to Literature; The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature; Literature to Go; Poetry: An Introduction; and Thinking and Writing about Literature.
It's a really good book, but I prefer the more compact later edition. My complaints about this begin and end with it's big, floppy size. It's too thick, taller than I like (but not too bad in the scope of textbooks) and pretty heavy.