Literature has not always been written in the same ways, nor has it been received or read in the same ways over the course of Western civilization. Cavallo (Greek palaeography, U. of Rome La Sapienza), Chartier (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris) and a number of other international contributors, address themes that highlight the transformation of reading methods and materials over the ages, such as the way texts in the Middle Ages were often written with the voice in mind, as they would have been read aloud, or even sung. Articles explore the innovations in the physical evolution of the book, as well as the growth and development of a broad-based reading public.

On history of reading

Takes in a wonderful diversity of things."-Nature. Now available in paperback, this final volume in the trilogy Language/Writing/Reading traces the complete story of reading from the time when symbols first acquired meaning through to the electronic texts of the digital age.

Louis Zamperini (1917-2014) The plane began to slowly glide, then much to Louie's shock it started shaking back and forth, then dropped down like a rock. It hit the water, blew apart, but Louie had survived! He saw a drifting raft he'd need to help him stay alive. One of America's fastest runners and a celebrated Olympic racer, Louis Zamperini suddenly found himself adrift when his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Louie applied his strength, determination, and cleverness to survive many dangers at sea. Captured by the enemy, he endured two years of harsh treatment as a prisoner of war. Battling fears and nightmares after his return home, he found hope and strength as he devoted his life to God and to serving others. The adventurous life of this survivor and champion is an inspiration to all.

“Nothing short of a masterpiece.” —NPR Books A New York Times Bestseller and a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, award-winning historian Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation. Widely hailed for its “sweeping, sobering account of the American past” (New York Times Book Review), Jill Lepore’s one-volume history of America places truth itself—a devotion to facts, proof, and evidence—at the center of the nation’s history. The American experiment rests on three ideas—“these truths,” Jefferson called them—political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. But has the nation, and democracy itself, delivered on that promise? These Truths tells this uniquely American story, beginning in 1492, asking whether the course of events over more than five centuries has proven the nation’s truths, or belied them. To answer that question, Lepore wrestles with the state of American politics, the legacy of slavery, the persistence of inequality, and the nature of technological change. “A nation born in contradiction… will fight, forever, over the meaning of its history,” Lepore writes, but engaging in that struggle by studying the past is part of the work of citizenship. With These Truths, Lepore has produced a book that will shape our view of American history for decades to come.

Why use Readers Theater in history classes? The format gives students a sense of involvement with the human dramas that make up history. Performers can feel the excitement as Archimedes discovers the displacement of water. They can relate to the terrors of a slave s passage from Africa to the Americas. They can imagine the tension of wading through the water at Omaha Beach as bullets strike their buddies. Each script (12 15 per book) is accompanied by background information, literature connections, extension activities, and discussion questions.