Page 58 - Demo

1465 Redefining AmericaPerhaps because of the immense amount of information at our fingertips and the questions that arise about where and who that information comes from, Americans have become more astute students of rhetoric than ever before. Contentious and hard-won political campaigns and elections, the Great Recession of 2008, and the rise of social protest movements such as the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter are just some of the many twenty-first century events that have led us to read carefully and sensitively, even as we%u2019re bombarded by a twenty-four-hour news cycle and the constant presence of social media. The nonfiction in this chapter will require you to draw on those skills to analyze and interpret the arguments each text puts forward about American life. A newly elected President George W. Bush comforts and fortifies Americans after the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. And Barack Obama reminds us of the genius of America in a speech he gave at the start of his national political career. We hear from attorney and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson on how the logic and illogic of our justice system relates to the history of the violence and discrimination of Jim Crow, and from writer Jesmyn Ward about the personal and historical factors that led her to move back to her hometown in Mississippi. Roxane Gay uses humor to examine and reject constraints on what feminism means today. Visionary environmentalist Bill McKibben imagines the world in 2055%u2014and it%u2019s not all bad news! Finally, a Conversation on the future of higher education will re-examine the opportunities and some of the pitfalls associated with a college degree.Miami voters wait to cast their ballots for the 2020 presidential election, which took place during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.To what extent do American elections reflect a cohesive national identity? What does the right to vote contribute to the meaning of the American Dream today?EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP/Getty ImagesCopyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.