Directions: The following is a collection of some of America's writers, chosen as favorites by English Advanced Placement* teachers across the United States. These writings meet the requirements of an AP English syllabus set forth in the Acorn Book, 2001-2002: they "come in a variety of formsónarrative, exploratory, expository, argumentativeóand on a variety of subjects from personal experiences to public policies, from imaginative literature to pop culture" (Acorn 7). Most of these can be used for practicing the timed essay test. In every case it is important to analyze how these writers of literary merit go beyond formulaic writing to write well.
Addison
and Steele
Essays
from The Spectator (1711-14)
A
Larger look at The Spectator
Mitch Albom
A
complete archive of his work in the Detroit Free Press
John Balzar
Recent
Columns in the Los Angeles Times
Judy Brady
Why
I Want a Wife
Robert
Olen Butler
Watch
a Pulitzer Prize Winner Create an Original Story (Florida State University)
Joan Didion
Excerpts
from "Why I Write"
Annie Dillard
Annie
Dillard Quotes
"Transfiguration"
"How
I Wrote the Moth Essay--And Why"
Joan Didion
Marrying
Absurd
On Self
Respect
Maureen
Dowd
From
the Archives of the New York Times
Elizabeth
Drew
The
Real Struggle for Political Power in America (May 15, 1997)
Creative
Quotations
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Jim
Dwyer 1995
Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Twelve
Essential Essays by Emerson
William
Faulkner
Nobel
Peace Acceptance Speech
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Thomas
French 1998
Ellen Goodman
A
Month of Ellen Goodman at The Boston Globe
Ellen
Goodman Archives at The Washington
Post
Writers Group
Nadine
Gordimer
"Writing
and Being" Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1991
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Tom
Hallman, Jr. 2001
Seamus
Heaney
"Crediting
Poetry" Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1995
William
James
The
Will to Believe
Garrison
Keillor
How
I Write
Martin
Luther King
Martin
Luther King's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (December 10, 1964)
Barbara
Kingsolver
"A
Pure, High Note of Anguish" (Los Angeles Times-September 23, 2001)
Stone
Soup - What Does it Mean to be a Family, Anyway?
Nancy Mairs
On Being
a Cripple
H. L. Mencken
(1880 - 1956)
Quotations
On
Being an American
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Eileen
McNamara 1997
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
J.R.
Moehringer 2000
Toni Morrison
Nobel
Lecture
National
Reporting - The New York Times Staff 2001
George
Orwell
Politics
and the English Language
Shooting
an Elephant
Leonard
Pitts, Jr..
A
Month of Leonard Pitts, Jr. at The Mami Herald
ADDRESS TO THE
AESC - Social Broccoli: The Case For Diversity
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Lisa
Pollak 1997
Neil Postman
Excerpts
of His Writings on the Web
Anna Quindlen
The
Last Word: Anna Quindlen's Column in Newsweek
Three
Sample Essays from Newsweek
Anna
Quindlen's Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College on MAY 23, 1999
William
Rasberry
Recent
Columns at The Washington Post
Rick Reilly
The
Life of Reilly--Achives of Last Columns from Sports Illustrated
Great American
Speeches
80
Years of Political Oratory
E. B. White
Here's
New York
Once
More to the Lake
Through
New York, Darkly
George
Will
The
Last Word: George Will Column in Newsweek
The Writer
on Her Work
Excerpts
from the Volume 1
Excerpts
from Volume 2
Buy the
at Amazon.com:
The
Writer on her Work, Volume 1
The
Writer on her Work, Volume 2
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
E.
R. Shipp 1996
Pulitzer
Prize Winner
Ron
Suskind 1995
Jonathan
Swift
A
Modest Proposal
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Advanced Placement Program* are registered trademarks of the College Entrance
Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and
does not endorse this site.*
