Brief, flexible, and economical, this Penguin Academics anthology presents classic and contemporary arguments on landmark issues in American life: the environment, education, censorship, civil disobedience, the struggle for liberation, and immigration and assimilation.

Argument in America offers multi-sided dialogues on timeless issues fundamental to American culture and civic identity. The book introduces students to an historical dimension as well as contemporary perspectives from a wide range of authors writing in many genres: essays, speeches, poems, stories, and visual arguments. The final section of the anthology, “Arguments on Argument,” features several selections on the nature of argument itself. Helpful but unobtrusive editorial apparatus includes a brief general introduction, introductions to the seven sections, discussion questions, and headnotes for the selections, many of which explain how the selection contributes to the argumentative issue at hand.