Readin' + Writin' for the Hard-Hat Crowd explores the history of an urban public university from its conception in 1964 to the dawn of the twenty-first century. The reader views this place in time through the lens of the evolving nature of «freshman English», an introductory curriculum that began as four semesters of Great Books. The author, herself among those once labeled «the hard-hat crowd», received an undergraduate education similar to that experienced by her contemporaries at elite private colleges. Yet, while this school, once considered a poor man's Harvard, was founded with a mission to provide academic equity, the curriculum evolved to one that responded to pressure for relevancy and practicality.

A career-spanning anthology of essays on politics and culture by the best-selling author of The Flamethrowers includes entries discussing a Palestinian refugee camp, an illegal Baja Peninsula motorcycle race, and the 1970s Fiat factory wildcat strikes.

Every 3rd issue is a quarterly cumulation.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.