The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing (2nd Edition)

Castro would love this textbook.

While this book does indeed have helpful writing tips and a handy grammar section in the back with academic composition rules, it also has a load of liberal biases and a few blatant myths. Liberal ideological premises soak this book like a sponge in water, and parts of the book could easily be called outright propaganda. The photographic montage on page 287 is a classic example. The wording of the captions equates legal immigration with illegal aliens by referring to both as "immigration" when they are not, neither by definition nor by law. The arrangement of the photos on this page are in story-like form, showing a man wanting to be here, then coming over, then marching for "his rights" (behind the women pushing their anchor babies) and then getting sworn in as a citizen. If that isn't blatant pro-amnesty drum beating, I'd like to know what is. It is clearly an attempt to positively cast illegal migration in a positive light and make it palatable to the reader. The photos are all of different people, however the message is clear: the authors of this textbook are pro-amnesty.

Also disturbing about this book are the endless references to "race, gender, and class" which smack of something out of a Marxist pamphlet. Students are encouraged to write about a "social problem" and how to fix it. This was a real issue for me since most of what are defined (by the political left) as "social problems" are nothing but poor personal behaviors practiced by a number of people. "Social problem" tends to be a political catchphrase right along with "social justice." I'm a former leftist, I know the spiel all too well. I don't think I can count the number of between-the-lines liberal messages this book has.

Page 288 has a deceitful photograph in its discussion on immigration. Again, the false use of the word "immigrant" is used here. There is a picture of agricultural workers sorting lettuce and setting it onto a small conveyor belt. There is a prevalent myth pushed by both corporate America and pro-amnesty groups that illegal aliens pick crops in this country, thus if we crack down on illegal aliens we will starve ourselves. This an outright lie. There are literally endless numbers of H2A seasonal agricultural worker visas which these farm laborers come here to work on, thus for textbook writing academics to put forth the idea that we are dependent on illegal labor to eat is an outright lie. Visa-carrying agricultural workers have NOTHING to do with the immigration debate.

True, the book does teach some useful analytical thinking - however the authors of the book completely undermine their own text when their readers apply the very analytical skills taught to them to the textbook itself. Textbooks and classrooms are NOT the place to push a personal political and social agenda. The political drum beating in this book renders it useless. Its pages are absolutely tedious to turn.

Beware of instructors that use this book: You are about to be indoctrinated.

I will have to admit I would have never bought this book other than is being for a school text book. It's one hell of an English book that covers just about everything, written, that you could imagine. I'm glad that I have it for future reference.

Very well written textbook. Very well organized towards constructive and creative writing with a lot of exercises to develop the thought process. I have enjoyed using it!

This book arrived in time before class started. It took about a week from the day I ordered this book. It was in good condition with no marks or torn pages. It looked like a new text book.

The book was in excellent condition just as the seller said...the shipping was really fast...it took around 5 days and thats quite fast for the distance it traveled.