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Dear colleagues:
American Literature & Rhetoric
Welcome to American Literature & Rhetoric. As veteran English teachers, we know firsthand
the varied ways that schools approach American literature. While many of us teach this course
chronologically, the thematic approach is also popular. That’s why we have created a text that will
support you as you inspire your students, no matter what your approach is. And we’ve done it in a
way that, we hope, is innovative and maybe a little surprising.
Teachers of American literature are enthusiastic about teaching the most up-to-date works, but a
chronological approach makes it difficult to get to them. Here’s the twist: Our anthology chapters
begin with the twenty-first century. The texts we present in that first “chronological” chapter
offer fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that is of the moment but also introduce the themes that
thread through American literature from its earliest days: ideals and exceptionalism, identity,
race, the immigrant experience, the country at war, women’s rights, the place of religion, nature
and the environment, and both inequality and opportunity.
Start your course with the engaging, modern selections; identify the themes you consider most
important and then journey back through time, engaging your students in the rich writing that
comprises American literature and rhetoric. We’ve also created questions for each piece that weave
those themes into the chronology, so, however you teach, both the themes and the chronology are
present.
Also included are four chapters of in-depth reading and writing instruction with the necessary
scaffolding for students to write about fiction and poetry, analyze texts rhetorically, and synthesize
sources. In addition, each text is accompanied by scaffolded questions that deepen understanding,
require close reading and analysis, and inspire sophisticated and engaging topics for composing, from
writing assignments to research projects to multimodal presentations and classroom discussions.
We want students to be motivated and prepared to participate in civil discussions of issues that
matter to them. That means understanding the historical roots of a topic, such as immigration and
the American Dream or women’s rights and the glass ceiling, and exploring multiple perspectives.
Each reading chapter ends with a conversation inviting students to examine different viewpoints
and then develop an informed position to enter into that discussion.
We’ve loved working on this book, especially as we’ve seen the conversations among texts and ideas
unfold in the chronology that is American literature and rhetoric. We’re so excited to share it with
you.
Best of luck,
Robin Dissin Aufses, Renée H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, Katherine E. Cordes
AP ® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, this product.
About the authors
Robin Dissin Aufses is director of English Studies at Lycée Français de New York,
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where she teaches AP English Language and Composition. Previous to this position,
Aufses was the English department chair and a teacher at John F. Kennedy High
School in Bellmore, New York, for ten years, and prior to that she taught English at
Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York, for twenty years.
She is co-author of Literature & Composition, The Language of Composition, and
Conversations in American Literature and has published articles for the College
Board on novelist Chang-Rae Lee and the novel, All the King’s Men.
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Renée H. Shea was professor of English and Modern Languages and director of
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freshman composition at Bowie State University in Maryland. A College Board faculty
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consultant for more than thirty years in AP Language and Literature, and
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Pre-AP English, she has been a reader and question leader for both AP English
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exams. Renée served as a member on three committees for the College Board :
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the AP Language and Composition Development Committee, the English Academic
Advisory Committee, and the SAT Critical Reading Test Development Committee. She
is co-author of Literature & Composition, The Language of Composition, Conversations
in American Literature, Advanced Language & Literature, and Foundations of Language
& Literature, as well as volumes on Amy Tan and Zora Neale Hurston for the NCTE
High School Literature Series. Renée has also written about contemporary authors for
publications such as World Literature Today, Poets & Writers, and Kenyon Review.
Lawrence Scanlon taught at Brewster High School for more than thirty years and
now teaches at Iona College in New York. Over the past twenty years, he has been
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a reader and question leader for the AP Language and Composition Exam. As a
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College Board consultant in the United States and abroad, he has conducted
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AP workshops in both language and literature and has served on the AP ®
English Language Test Development Committee. Larry is co-author of Literature
& Composition, The Language of Composition, and Conversations in American
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Literature and has published articles for the College Board and elsewhere.
Katherine E. Cordes is a National Board Certified English Teacher who currently
teaches tenth grade English, twelfth grade English, and AP English Literature at
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Skyview High School in Billings, Montana. She received her undergraduate degree
in English, Psychology, and Medieval Studies from St. Olaf College and spent a year
at Oxford University studying Medieval and twentieth-century British Literature. With
a master’s degree in education from Montana State University-Billings, she focuses
her teaching efforts on writing instruction, technology integration, and becoming the
best teacher and leader possible. She has authored teacher resource materials for
Conversations in American Literature and The Language of Composition, Third Edition.
She is also co-author of the forthcoming Literature & Composition, Third Edition.