The American Values Reader engages students in critical thinking, reading, and writing about values and their role in shaping and defining our identity as a people. The book's organization reflects the three broad areas of self-evident truths and unalienable rights identified by our country's founders — Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — and frames multi-sided ethical and moral conversations presented by some 100 writers and thinkers.

The American Values Reader does not highlight the political aspect of each reading. Rather, it examines the intrinsic elements of the selections to uncover their explicit and implicit values, with post-reading questions engaging students in timely debate in their writing or in classroom conversation. The approach through multiple perspectives sees the potential in every piece for linking past and present values, so that every selection can mirror today's culture. Believing that universities and colleges have a responsibility to help students address values with an openness of mind and diligence of attitude in order to develop an educated citizenry capable of making reasoned moral choices, The American Values Reader encourages readers to join the values conversation embedded in each selection.