The essential guide to looking at literature with your own two eyes.

What students know about Shakespeare, Orwell, Dickens, and Twain is primarily what their instructors tell them. Here's a book that teaches the students how to move on to the next level-evaluate and read critically on their own, trust their own opinions, develop original ideas, analyze characters, and find a deeper appreciation for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and more.

Ideal companion for college students and accessible for the casual reader as well

Covers fiction, poetry, narrative nonfiction, biographies and memoirs, essays and editorials, and newspapers, magazines, and journals

Features examples from published writing

Includes a reading list and a glossary of literary terms