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60 Essays: Titles & Authors

By Richard Nordquist, About.com

60 Essays: Models of Good Writing



"Advice to Youth," by Mark Twain (1882) Part 1, #1

"Becoming Mary Poppins: P. L. Travers, Walt Disney, and the Making of a Myth," by Caitlin Flanagan (2005) Part 1 #2
"Bookshop Memories," by George Orwell (1936) Part 2 #1

"The Candy Man," by Margaret Talbot (2005) Part 2 #2

"The Death of the Moth," by Virginia Woolf (1942) Part 1 #3
”The Death of My Father,” by Steve Martin (2002) Part 5 #1
"Drugs: The Case for Legalizing Marijuana," by Gore Vidal (1970) Part 4 #2

"The Education of Women," by Daniel Defoe (1719) Part 1 #4

"A Fable," by Mark Twain Part 2 #3

"Farewell, My Lovely," by E.B. White (1936) Part 1 #5

”The Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham Lincoln (1863) Part 5 #3
"Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts," by Bruce Catton (1956) Part 3 #2

"A Hanging," by George Orwell (1931) Part 1 #6
"Happiness," by Nikos Kazantzakis (1965) Part 4 #3
"A Hashish House in New York," by H. H. Kane (1883) Part 3 #3
"The Hills of Zion," by H. L. Mencken (1925) Part 2 #4
"Homeless," by Anna Quindlen (1987) Part 4 #4
"How It Feels to Be Colored Me," Zora Neale Hurston (1928) Part 3 #4
”How to Mark a Book,” by Mortimer Adler (1940) Part 5 #4
”How to Say Nothing in 500 Words,” by Paul Roberts (1958) Part 5 #5

"I Have a Dream," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) Part 2 #5
Inaugural Address, by John F. Kennedy (1961) Part 4 #1
Inaugural Address, by Barack Obama (2009) Part 3 #1
"In Defense of Talk Shows," by Barbara Ehrenreich (1995) Part 4 #5
"In Praise of Idleness," by Bertrand Russell (1932) Part 3 #3

"The Kitchen," by Alfred Kazin (1941) Part 4 #6

"Letter from Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) Part 1 #7
"Life Under the Chief Doublespeak Officer," by William Lutz (1989) Part 3 #6

"A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift (1729) Part 3 #7
”The Moon Under Water,” by George Orwell (1946) Part 5 #6
"My Mother, My Hair," by Deborah Tannen (2006) Part 3 #8
"My Wood," by E. M. Forster (1936) Part 3 #9

”Of Studies,” by Francis Bacon (1625) Part 5 #7
"On the Decay of the Art of Lying," by Mark Twain (1882) Part 2 #6
"On National Prejudices," by Oliver Goldsmith (1763) Part 2 #7
"Once More to the Lake," by E. B. White (1941) Part 2 #8

"Paradise Sold: What Are You Buying When You Buy Organic?" by Steven Shapin (2006) Part 2 #9
"A Piece of Chalk," by G. K. Chesterton (1905) Part 1 #8
"Politics and the English Language," by George Orwell (1946) Part 4 #7
"Portrait of a Londoner," by Virginia Woolf (1931) Part 4 #8
"Professions for Women," by Virginia Woolf (1942) Part 1 #9

"The Ring of Time," by E.B. White (1956) Part 4 #9

"Salvation," by Langston Hughes (1940) Part 3 #10
"Self-Reliance," by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841) Part 1 #10
"Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell (1936) Part 1 #11
"Stone Soup," by Barbara Kingsolver (1995) Part 4 #10
"The Story of an Eyewitness: The San Francisco Earthquake," by Jack London (1906) Part 4 #11
”Street-Haunting”: A London Adventure,” by Virginia Woolf (1930) Part 5 #8

”Thinking As a Hobby,” by William Golding (1961) Part 5 #9
"This Is the Life," by Annie Dillard (2003) Part 2 #10
"Two Ways of Seeing a River," by Mark Twain (1883) Part 2 #11

”Walking,” by Henry David Thoreau (1851) Part 5 #10
"Watching Out for Loaded Words," by Frank Trippett (1982) Part 4 #12
"What Is Poverty?" by Jo Goodwin Parker (1971) Part 3 #11
”The Whistle,” by Benjamin Franklin (1779) Part 5 #10
"Why Are Beggars Despised?" (1933) Part 5 #11
"Why I Want a Wife," by Judy Brady (1971) Part 3 #12
"Why I Write," by George Orwell (1946) Part 1 #12
"Why I Write," by Joan Didion (1976) Part 2 #12
”The Writing Life,” by Stephen King (2006) Part 5 #12

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