The first and bestselling reader of its kind, A World of Ideas engages students with the big ideas that have shaped society and are reshaping it today. Readings by essential authors – from Aristotle and Mary Wollstonecraft to bell hooks and Marilynne Robinson – help students trace the origins of central cultural concepts and respond to them. A World of Ideas asks such crucial questions as, What defines good government? What forces shape our society? What does it mean to be educated?

A World of Ideas helps students respond to these questions by providing the guidance they need to understand, analyze, and write. Substantial, supportive apparatus helps students focus on both the content of the readings as well as the rhetorical moves that writers use to achieve their purposes, providing instruction and models as students join in the important conversations continuing today. New chapters on Education and Gender, and new readings throughout, speak to today's urgent concerns. Improved writing instruction includes more scaffolding and examples that provide greater support for students.