Cover: American Literature and Rhetoric, 2nd Edition by Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon

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American Literature and Rhetoric

Second  Edition©2025  Robin Aufses; Renee Shea; Katherine E. Cordes; Natalie Landaeta Castillo; Lawrence Scanlon

About

American Literature and Rhetoric, Second Edition, provides everything you need to be successful in 11th grade English. Includes instruction in literary and rhetorical analysis and teaches you how to write an essay that will dazzle your teacher. Loads of examples of great writing for you to use as models for your own essays.

Table of Contents

1 Rhetorical Analysis
The Rhetorical Situation
Rhetorical Appeals
Analyzing Visual Texts: Identifying Rhetorical Appeals
Style
Analyzing Visual Texts: Analyzing Visual Rhetoric
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Rhetoric
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Rhetoric

2 Evidence-Based Argument
Argument
Claims
Evidence
Analyzing Visual Texts: Identifying Bias in Visual Texts
Bringing Together Claims and Evidence 
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Multiple Sources
Finding Your Position
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Multiple Sources

3 Analysis of Fiction
The Big Picture: Literary Elements
Close Reading: Style Elements
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Fiction
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Fiction

4 Analysis of Poetry
Step 1: Reading for Literal Meaning
Step 2: Considering the Speaker
Step 3: Reading for Detail
Putting It All Together: Analyzing Poetry
Culminating Activity: Analyzing Poetry

5 Redefining America: 2001 to the Present
Introduction 2001 to the Present
Writing Workshop: Analysis of Theme in Fiction
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Is the Future of Higher Education?
Suggestions for Writing

6 A Meeting of Old and New Worlds: Beginnings to 1830
Introduction Beginnings to 1830
Writing Workshop: Rhetorical Analysis
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Does the Second Amendment Mean Today?
Suggestions for Writing

7 America in Conflict: 1830‒1865
Introduction 1830‒1865
Writing Workshop: Close Analysis of Fiction
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: Would Reparations Address the Legacy of Slavery?
Suggestions for Writing

8 Reconstructing America: 1865‒1917
Introduction 1830‒1865
Writing Workshop: Argument
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: Has Income Inequality Created a New Gilded Age?
Suggestions for Writing

9 America in the Modern World: 1917–1945
Introduction 1917–1945
Writing Workshop: Analysis of Poetry
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: What Place Should Cars Occupy in America’s Future?
Suggestions for Writing

10 The Rise of a Superpower: 1945–2000
Introduction 1945–2000
Writing Workshop: Evidence-Based Argument
Chronological Anthology
Conversation: How Much Military Spending Is Enough?
Suggestions for Writing

Robin Aufses

Robin Dissin Aufses is director of English Studies at Lycée Français de New York, where she teaches AP® English Language and Composition. Previous to this position, Robin was the English department chair and a teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New York, and prior to that she taught English at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York. She taught AP® English Literature and AP® English Language at both schools. She is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, 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.

Renee Shea

Renée H. Shea was professor of English and Modern Languages and director of freshman composition at Bowie State University in Maryland, where she taught graduate seminars in rhetoric. A College Board faculty consultant for more than thirty years in AP® Language and Literature, and Pre-AP® English, she has been a reader and question leader for both AP® English exams. Renée served as a member on many committees for the College Board, including 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, American Literature & Rhetoric, 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 continues to write about contemporary authors for publications such as World Literature Today, Poets & Writers, and Kenyon Review. Her recent publications focused on Celeste Ng, Imbolo Mbue, Namwali Serpell, Manuel Muñoz, and Ohio’s 2020–2024 poet laureate, Kari Gunter-Seymour.

Katherine Cordes

Katherine E. Cordes is a National Board Certified English teacher with a BA in English, psychology, and medieval studies; an MEd in curriculum and instruction; and an MFA in poetry. She has more than twenty years of experience in the secondary English Language Arts classroom and currently teaches AP Seminar®/Honors English 10 and AP® English Literature at Skyview High School in Billings, Montana, where she has also taught dual enrollment college writing and AP® English Language. As part of the College Board’s Instructional Design Team, Katherine contributed to the development, review, and dissemination of the 2019 AP® English Literature Course and Exam Description, and she has been an AP® Reader for the AP® English Literature and AP® Seminar Exams. She is a co-author of Literature & Composition and The Language of Composition.

Natalie Landaeta Castillo

Natalie Landaeta Castillo currently teaches AP® English Language and Composition, AP® Seminar, and other English electives at her alma mater, Felix Varela Senior High School, in Miami, Florida. She also serves as the College Board Advisor on the AP® Seminar test development committee and as Question Leader for that course’s exam at the AP® Reading. She has led workshops and presentations for AP® teachers both in her county and nationally, in addition to mentoring AP® English Language teachers in her district.

Lawrence Scanlon

Lawrence Scanlon taught at Brewster High School for more than thirty years and then for another ten years at Iona College in New York. For twenty-five years, he was a Reader and Question Leader for the AP® Language and Composition Exam. As a College Board consultant over that same period of time, he has conducted AP® workshops in both AP® English Language and AP® English Literature throughout the United States and in South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has also provided professional development as a private consultant for many school districts. He served on the PSAT Review Committee and the AP® English Language Test Development Committee. Larry is co-author of Literature & Composition, American Literature & Rhetoric, and Conversations in American Literature and has published articles on curriculum and method for the College Board and elsewhere.