This page lists all of the textbooks on reserve for courses in the Communications and Humanities meta major.
For resources other than reserved textbooks, check out the Lib Guides for your course. Don't see yours? Ask the RCBC Library to make one! Email library@rcbc.edu.
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A B C 1 2 3 : Fingerspelling and Numbers in ASL by Signing Naturally : Student Workbook Level 2 by 
Linguistics of American Sign Language by
**The DVD content is now available online and can be accessed at the Gallaudet University Press website. Completely reorganized to reflect the growing intricacy of the study of ASL linguistics, the 5th edition presents 26 units in seven parts. Part One: Introduction presents a revision of Defining Language and an entirely new unit, Defining Linguistics. Part Two: Phonology has been completely updated with new terminology and examples. The third part, Morphology, features units on building new signs, deriving nouns from verbs, compounds, fingerspelling, and numeral incorporation. Part Four: Syntax includes units on basic sentence types, lexical categories, word order, time and aspect, verbs, and the function of space. The fifth part, Semantics, offers updates on the meanings of individual signs and sentences. Part Six: Language in Use showcases an entirely new section on Black ASL in the unit on Variation and Historical Change. The units on bilingualism and language and ASL discourse have been thoroughly revised and updated, and the Language as Art unit has been enhanced with a new section on ASL in film. Two new readings update Part Seven, and all text illustrations have been replaced by video stills from the expanded DVD. Also, signs described only with written explanations in past editions now have both photographic samples in the text and full demonstrations in the DVD.
The Associated Press Stylebook 2018 by 
News Reporting and Writing, 12th Ed. by
More than a quarter of a million students have learned the craft and ethics of journalism from Melvin Mencher's News Reporting and Writing. This classic text shows students the fundamentals of reporting and writing and examines the values that direct and underlie the practice of journalism. The changing nature of electronic media today may make this a scary time for journalism students, but it also presents an opportunity for young journalists to shape the direction of new media.
English Grammar & Punctuation by 
They Say / I Say by
The book that has taught millions of students to present their arguments as a response to what "they say" has been expanded to define as broadly as possible who's included in "they." Readings demonstrate the moves that matter in academic writing and represent a multitude of perspectives. The Fourth Edition includes an anthology of 40 readings--half of which are NEW--that will prompt students to listen, think, and write about five important issues, including NEW "How Can We Bridge the Differences That Divide Us?"
The Little Seagull Handbook, 3rd Ed. by 
The Little Seagull Handbook, 2nd Ed. by
The Little Seagull Handbook offers the kind of succinct advice students need about grammar, punctuation, documentation, and the writing process--an in addition, it covers the kinds of writing they are most often assigned--reports, analyses, narratives, and more. The second edition includes unique help for students whose primary language is not English. Available in two versions--with and without exercises.
The Sunflower by
A Holocaust survivor's surprising and thought-provoking study of forgiveness, justice, compassion, and human responsibility, featuring contributions from the Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Cynthia Ozick, Primo Levi, and more. While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside of a dying member of the SS. Haunted by the crimes in which he had participated, the soldier wanted to confess to--and obtain absolution from--a Jew. Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing. But even years after the way had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would you have done in his place? In this important book, fifty-three distinguished men and women respond to Wiesenthal's questions. They are theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China and Tibet. Their responses, as varied as their experiences of the world, remind us that Wiesenthal's questions are not limited to events of the past.
The Norton Introduction to Literature by 
The Writer's Idea Book by
"Where do you get your ideas?" It's a question and a quandary that bedevils every writer. And once you've got an idea, what then? Ideas without a plan, without a purpose, are no more than pleasant thoughts. In The Writer's Idea Book, Jack Heffron, former senior editor at Writer's Digest Books and Story Press, will help you find the answer. Utilizing over 400 prompts and exercises, you'll generate intriguing ideas and plumb their possibilities to turn them into something amazing. The Writer's Idea Book will give you the insight and the self-awareness to create and refine ideas that demand to be transformed into greater works, the kind of compelling, absorbing writing that will have other writers asking "where do you get those ideas?"
Language in Thought and Action, 5th Ed. by
In an era when communication has become increasingly diverse and complex, this classic work on semantics--now fully revised and updated--distills the relationship between language and those who use it. Renowned professor and former U.S. Senator S. I. Hayakawa discusses the role of language in human life, the many functions of language, and how language--sometimes without our knowing--shapes our thinking in this engaging and highly respected book. Provocative and erudite, it examines the relationship between language and racial and religious prejudice; the nature and dangers of advertising from a linguistic point of view; and, in an additional chapter called "The Empty Eye," the content, form, and hidden message of television, from situation comedies to news coverage to political advertising.
Language in Thought and Action by
In an era when communication has become increasingly diverse and complex, this classic work on semantics--now fully revised and updated--distills the relationship between language and those who use it. Renowned professor and former U.S. Senator S. I. Hayakawa discusses the role of language in human life, the many functions of language, and how language--sometimes without our knowing--shapes our thinking in this engaging and highly respected book. Provocative and erudite, it examines the relationship between language and racial and religious prejudice; the nature and dangers of advertising from a linguistic point of view; and, in an additional chapter called "The Empty Eye," the content, form, and hidden message of television, from situation comedies to news coverage to political advertising.
American Lit I and American Lit II by
LIT 209/210
Complete works of Montaigne : essays, travel journal, letters by
Humanist, skeptic, acute observer of himself and others, Michel de Montaigne (1533--92) was the first to use the term "essay" to refer to the form he pioneered, and he has remained one of its most famous practitioners. He reflected on the great themes of existence in his wise and engaging writings, his subjects ranging from proper conversation and good reading, to the raising of children and the endurance of pain, from solitude, destiny, time, and custom, to truth, consciousness, and death. Having stood the test of time, his essays continue to influence writers nearly five hundred years later.
Also included in this complete edition of his works are Montaigne's letters and his travel journal, fascinating records of the experiences and contemplations that would shape and infuse his essays. Montaigne speaks to us always in a personal voice in which his virtues of tolerance, moderation, and understanding are dazzlingly manifest.
Donald M. Frame's masterful translation is widely acknowledged to be the classic English version.
The Epic Trickster in American Literature by
LIT 203
Images from the Holocaust by
LIT 217
The Odyssey by
Robert Fagles's stunning modern-verse translation-available at last in our black-spine classics line A Penguin Classic The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, renowned translator Robert Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom and given us anOdysseyto read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. This is anOdysseyto delight both the classicist and the general reader, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by
The text of the work remains that of Wollstonecraft's second edition of 1792, for scholarship has vindicated that choice. The annotations have been greatly expanded.Backgrounds documents more fully the early concern for women's education, with important extracts from the relevant works of John Locke and Mary Astell, as well as three more of Catherine Macaulay's influential "Letters on Education."A new section, The Wollstonecraft Debate, provides a wide spectrum of opinions about the woman herself, from the nastiness of Richard Polwhele to the adulation of William Blake, balanced by the cool intelligence of George Eliot and Virginia Woolf.Criticism contains essays by Emma Rauschenbusch-Clough, Carolyn W. Korsmeyer, R. M. Janes, Elissa S. Guralnick, Moira Ferguson and Janet Todd, Mitzi Myers, and Mary Poovey.A Chronology of Wollstonecraft's life and a Selected Bibliography are also included.
The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women Vol. 1 by
Now, the much-anticipated Third Edition responds to the wealth of writing by women across the globe with the inclusion of 61 new authors (219 in all) whose diverse works span six centuries. A more flexible two-volume format and a versatile new companion reader make the Third Edition an even better teaching tool."As diversity itself has shaped the evolution of feminist criticism, from its early preoccupation with women's shared experiences to its more recent absorption in the complex issues and assumptions informing English-language texts by women writers of diverse geographical, cultural, racial, sexual, religious, and class origins and influences, so diversity has shaped the revisions of this anthology." --From the Preface
The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women Vol. 2 by
Now, the much-anticipated Third Edition responds to the wealth of writing by women across the globe with the inclusion of 61 new authors (219 in all) whose diverse works span six centuries.nbsp; A more flexible two-volume format and a versatile new companion reader make the Third Edition an even better teaching tool."As diversity itself has shaped the evolution of feminist criticism, from its early preoccupation with women's shared experiences to its more recent absorption in the complex issues and assumptions informing English-language texts by women writers of diverse geographical, cultural, racial, sexual, religious, and class origins and influences, so diversity has shaped the revisions of this anthology." --From the Preface
The Norton Anthology of English Literature by
Firmly grounded by the hallmark strengths of all Norton Anthologies--thorough and helpful introductory matter, judicious annotation, complete texts wherever possible--The Norton Anthology of English Literature has been revitalized in this Eighth Edition through the collaboration between six new editors and six seasoned ones. Under the direction of Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor, the editors have reconsidered all aspects of the anthology to make it an even better teaching tool.
Children's Literature by
Ever since children have learned to read, there has been children?s literature. Children?s Literature charts the makings of the Western literary imagination from Aesop?s fables to Mother Goose, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Peter Pan, from Where the Wild Things Are to Harry Potter. The only single-volume work to capture the rich and diverse history of children?s literature in its full panorama, this extraordinary book reveals why J. R. R. Tolkien, Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beatrix Potter, and many others, despite their divergent styles and subject matter, have all resonated with generations of readers. Children?s Literature is an exhilarating quest across centuries, continents, and genres to discover how, and why, we first fall in love with the written word. ?Lerer has accomplished something magical. Unlike the many handbooks to children?s literature that synopsize, evaluate, or otherwise guide adults in the selection of materials for children, this work presents a true critical history of the genre. . . . Scholarly, erudite, and all but exhaustive, it is also entertaining and accessible. Lerer takes his subject seriously without making it dull.??Library Journal (starred review) ?Lerer?s history reminds us of the wealth of literature written during the past 2,600 years. . . . With his vast and multidimensional knowledge of literature, he underscores the vital role it plays in forming a child?s imagination. We are made, he suggests, by the books we read.??San Francisco Chronicle ?There are dazzling chapters on John Locke and Empire, and nonsense, and Darwin, but Lerer?s most interesting chapter focuses on girls? fiction. . . . A brilliant series of readings.??Diane Purkiss, Times Literary Supplement
Western Civilization by
HIS 103
Western Civilization by
HIS 104
Western Civilization by
HIS 104
Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America by
HIS 212
The Civil War and Reconstruction by
HIS 212
Blood and Soil by
HIS 213
2007 edition as reference
A Short History of Renaissance and Reformation Europe by
HIS 215
Islamic Arts A&i by
Islamic Arts, a comprehensive survey covering a thousand years, highlights those characteristics that connect the various arts of the Islamic lands without minimizing the differences. The book is divided into three time periods - 600-900, 900-1500 and 1500-1800 - and each section analyses architecture, the arts of the book, decorative and applied arts. Islamic Artsbrilliantly captures the essence of Islamic culture.
Exploring Philosophy by
PHI 101
The World's Religions by
The World's Religions, by beloved author and pioneering professor Huston Smith (Tales of Wonder), is the definitive classic for introducing the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as regional native traditions. This revised and updated edition provides sympathetic descriptions of the various traditions, explaining how they work "from the inside," which is a big reason why this cherished classic has sold more than two million copies since it first appeared in 1958.
