"This market-leading language reader features thought-provoking readings that explore the various interconnections between language and American society. "For more than 25 years, this engaging reader has challenged students to critically examine how language affects and constructs culture and how culture constructs and affects language. This thirteenth edition maintains the integrity of past editions while reflecting the new and fascinating language issues that exist in today's culture. Provocative selections are organized around nine major topics, and then broken into stimulating sub-themes like the connections between gender and language differences, hate speech, the language of war, and censorship on campus, inviting students to debate current social and cultural issues that are inseparable from language.

Dialogues represents argument not as a battle to be won, but as a process of dialogue and deliberation-the exchange of opinions and ideas-among people with different values and perspectives. Part One contains succinct instruction on analyzing and developing arguments, including critical reading, source documentation, and analyzing visual arguments. Part Two, updated with many new readings addressing current issues, offers a diverse collection of provocative essays from both the popular and scholarly medium. The lucid, lively, and engaging writing addresses students as writers and thinkers, without overwhelming them with unnecessary jargon or theory.