Literature and Ourselves, Fourth Edition, is a thematically organized anthology that treats literature as a continually expanding commentary on our infinitely varied lives, helping students make the connection between literature and their own unique life stories.

Each of the six themes—Family, Men and Women, Grief and Loss, Freedom and Responsibility, Imagination and Discovery, and Quest—progresses outward from the self to larger issues. Within each theme, Literature and Ourselves provides a unique combination of traditional and contemporary works organized by genre—essays, fiction, poetry, and drama—that reflects the diverse cultures and ethnicities that make up our world today.