Organized around five socially relevant themes that highlight the diversity of human experience, this carefully structured anthology draws from a rich pool of traditional and contemporary literary pieces, enlightening students with a broad collection of short fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction selections written by a group of authors who represent different social classes, races, genders, cultures, and sexual orientations. Explaining the language, form, social, and historical forces that shape these significant literary selections, it prefaces each thematic section with an issue-raising narrative and concludes each with study discussion questions, writing exercises, and paper topics—providing strong pedagogical support for both understanding the various forms of literature and for learning how to write about them.