This lively collection of fifty-eight short, readable essays provides useful models of the rhetorical modes. Along with familiar names like Maya Angelou and Russell Baker, the text features many new voices such as Bharati Mukherjee, Humberto Fontova, and Bjorn Skogquist. Detailed chapter openers discuss the writing process and introduce each rhetorical mode; headnotes for each essay give a brief biography of its author and explains its context. The introductory section "Freeze Frame" establishes the reading and writing connection, a concept reinforced throughout the text. For those interested in improving their critical thinking, reading and writing skills.