READING RESPONSES

MUST HAVE THE BOOK Reading List for A World of Ideas textbook 9th ed:
first Five Readings —

Aristotle, Democracy and Oligarchy
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Qualities of the Prince
Hannah Arendt, Total Domination

Frederick Douglass, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

READING RESPONSES

For the first four to five weeks you will be reading approximately two or three essays every week. Above you will see a list of the

first five from our textbook, A World of Ideas. After you finish reading an essay you will need to write a formal response analyzing

the essay. As you read think about the essay. How is it written? Does it tell a story, lay out an argument, provide

information..? What is the point of the essay? Is it well written? If not, why not? Where does it succeed and where does it

fail? Be specific. If you are bored, why are you bored? Refer to the text to support your claim about the writer’s style and

effectiveness.Â

Post responses to the first five essays here. They must be posted together. Make sure your name is on every page and that you’ve

written about two pages for each of the essays you’ve read.Â

Type in size 12-font, double-space, and use one-inch margins.   Avoid writing in first-person.Â

You may turn in your responses as soon as you complete the first five. Remember this is a critical thinking assignment meant to focus

your attention on what works and what fails in the writing of an essay. Your focus is on the writing. The content of the essay is

not the focus of this assignment. Still, sensitivity to the subject matter drives every writer’s choice