The reasons to read contemporary works, and older ones, by people of color, indigenous peoples, and other groups underrepresented in anthologies until recently are compelling and should be obvious. The reasons to continue reading "classic" texts that have until recently held places of honor in anthologies and English curricula are, however, less obvious to many contemporary readers. This book is emphatically not a defense of the literary "canon" of generations past, but does bring the thoughts of a range of professors of English to bear on a question about which many undergraduates and adult...

The reasons to read contemporary works, and older ones, by people of color, indigenous peoples, and other groups underrepresented in anthologies until recently are compelling and should be obvious. The reasons to continue reading "classic" texts that have until recently held places of honor in anthologies and English curricula are, however, less obvious to many contemporary readers. This book is emphatically not a defense of the literary "canon" of generations past, but does bring the thoughts of a range of professors of English to bear on a question about which many undergraduates and adult...