Our five Essay Samplers include works by the first major English essayist ("On Studies," by Francis Bacon), the first great Irish satirist ("A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift), and the most notable American essayist of the 19th century ("Self-Reliance," by Ralph Waldo Emerson). You will also find several pieces by three major essayists of the 20th century: Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, and E. B. White.
If your reading interests are more contemporary, have a look at the essays by journalist Anna Quindlen ("Homeless"), comedian Steve Martin ("The Death of My Father"), and novelist Stephen King ("The Writing Life"). More than a dozen selections first appeared in print within the past decade.
To help you locate essays that match your own tastes, the contents of the Essay Samplers have been organized here by author (below), title, and theme.
CONTENTS BY AUTHOR AND TITLE
Mortimer Adler
”How to Mark a Book” (1940) Part 5 #4
Francis Bacon
"Of Studies” (1625) Part 5 #7
Judy Brady
"Why I Want a Wife" (1971) Part 3 #12
Bruce Catton
"Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts" (1956) Part 3 #2
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
"A Piece of Chalk" (1905) Part 1 #8
Daniel Defoe
"The Education of Women" (1719) Part 1 #3
Joan Didion
"Why I Write" (1976) Part 2 #12
Annie Dillard
"This Is the Life" (2003) Part 2 #10
Barbara Ehrenreich
"In Defense of Talk Shows" (1995) Part 4 #5
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Self-Reliance" (1841) Part 1 #10
Caitlin Flanagan
"Becoming Mary Poppins: P.L. Travers, Walt Disney, and the Making of a Myth" (2005) Part 1 #2
E. M. Forster
"My Wood" (1936) Part 3 #9
Benjamin Franklin
”The Whistle” (1779) Part 5 #10
William Golding
"Thinking As a Hobby” (1961) Part 5 #9
Oliver Goldsmith
"On National Prejudices" (1763) Part 2 #7
Langston Hughes
"Salvation" (1940) Part 3 #10
Zora Neale Hurston
"How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928) Part 3 #4
H. H. Kane
"A Hashish House in New York" (1883) Part 3 #3
Nikos Kazantzakis
"Happiness" (1965) Part 4 #3
Alfred Kazin
"The Kitchen" (1941) Part 4 #6
John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address (1961) Part 4 #1
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I Have a Dream" (1963) Part 2 #5
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) Part 1 #7
Stephen King
”The Writing Life” (2006) Part 5 #12
Barbara Kingsolver
"Stone Soup" (1995) Part 4 #10
Abraham Lincoln
”The Gettysburg Address” (1863) Part 5 #3
Jack London
"The Story of an Eyewitness: The San Francisco Earthquake" (1906) Part 4 #11
William Lutz
"Life Under the Chief Doublespeak Officer" (1989) Part 3 #6
Steve Martin
”The Death of My Father” (2002) Part 5 #1
H. L. Mencken
"The Hills of Zion" (1925) Part 2 #4
Barack Obama
Inaugural Address (2009) Part 3 #1
George Orwell
"Bookshop Memories" (1936) Part 2 #1
"A Hanging" (1931) Part 1 #6
”The Moon Under Water” (1946) Part 5 #6
"Politics and the English Language" (1946) Part 4 #7
"Shooting an Elephant" (1936) Part 1 #11
"Why Are Beggars Despised?" (1933) Part 5 #11
"Why I Write" (1946) Part 1 12
Jo Goodwin Parker
"What Is Poverty?" (1971) Part 3 #11
Anna Quindlen
"Homeless" (1987) Part 4 #4
Paul Roberts
”How to Say Nothing in 500 Words” (1958) Part 5 #5
Bertrand Russell
"In Praise of Idleness" (1932) Part 3 #3
Steven Shapin
"Paradise Sold: What Are You Buying When You Buy Organic?" (2006) Part 2 #9
Jonathan Swift
"A Modest Proposal" (1729) Part 3 #7
Margaret Talbot
"The Candy Man" (2005) Part 2 #2
Deborah Tannen
"My Mother, My Hair" (2006) Part 3 #8
Henry David Thoreau
”Walking” (1851) Part 5 #10
Frank Trippett
"Watching Out for Loaded Words" (1982) Part 4 #12
Mark Twain
"Advice to Youth" (1882) Part 1, #1
"A Fable" (1876) Part 2 #3
"On the Decay of the Art of Lying" (1882) Part 2 #6
"Two Ways of Seeing a River" (1883) Part 2 #11
Gore Vidal
"Drugs: The Case for Legalizing Marijuana" (1970) Part 4 #2
E. B. White
"Farewell, My Lovely" (1936) Part 1 #5
"Once More to the Lake" (1941) Part 2 #8
"The Ring of Time" (1956) Part 4 #9
Virginia Woolf
"The Death of the Moth" (1942) Part 1 #3
"Portrait of a Londoner" (1931) Part 4 #8
"Professions for Women" (1942) Part 1 #9
”Street-Haunting”: A London Adventure” (1930) Part 5 #8
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