... what they could to get away with as much as they could, and profit the most. These men were given the title "Robber Barons" for a reason. Although the Robber Barons appeared evil, they were a necessary evil. The United States of America would not be as powerful as it is today, and the average American would not be living as well as they are today if it ... known philanthropists, and they gave back to the community a lot. Millions of dollars were spent on the nations cultural life. In example Morgan was a trustee in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he built the spectacular Morgan libra...

• Word Count: 560
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... in Jamaica, which were large parties, originally outdoors, thrown by owners of loud and expensive stereo equipment which they could share with the community. Rap emerged from block parties after DJs isolated percussion breaks and began speaking over the beats; in Jamaica, a similar vocal style called dub developed from the same isolated and elongated percussion breaks. Earlier styles that contributed to ... who succeeded with rap-style performances in early jazz, blues, pop, and country performances. Pinetop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" (1929) in which the "girl with the red dress o...

• Word Count: 656
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , he wrote, "The Tell-Tale Heart." and in 1850, "The Oval Portrait." These two stories are short stories. Poe's writing is notable due to his use of visual elements, darkness and light and horrific style. The narrator makes both stories easily understandable through his use of visual elements. Furthermore, in "The Tell Tale Heart," the narrator thinks it might have ... been the old man's freaky eye that brought ... up the idea to kill him. "He had the eye of a vulture – a ... ...

• Word Count: 882
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . He does this after trying multiple times to write a straight-forward book on the bombing of Dresden. After realizing he does not want it to be a regular war book, Vonnegut tries a different strategy of writing. He boldly inserts more than one surrogate, ignores chronology and disregards sticking to one perspective of narration. This is because he does not know how to write about such a ... that this actually did happen to a real living and breathing person, even if it sounds incredibly ridiculous. Another "rule" of writing Vonnegut breaks in this novel is inserting more than one surrog...

• Word Count: 990
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Pine Barrens John Mcphee's "The Pine Barrens" is a unique descriptive novel, the novel deals with nature and all it's beauty. The story is easy to follow and easy to understand because it is being told through the eyes of a non-partial naturist. The novel was intriguing because it was so relatable to Philadelphia, the fact that the actually Pine Barrens are only about fifty miles away meant that whatever Mcphee experienced throughout the book was not far fetched form what I"d experience. The proximity on which Mcphee relates the Barrens to New York City meant that I've been past that value...

• Word Count: 191
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... from existing records and mixing them up with poetry chronicling life in the "hood." Major credit is given to Kool DJ Herc, who along with others started the hip-hop culture in the south Bronx. Kool DJ Herc moved from Jamaica to the west Bronx area of New York. Herc's initial style had a lot of Jamaican style with it, but people in New York were not into reggae ... yet. Kool DJ Herc then changed his style by chanting over the instrumental portion of songs. From the housing projects in south Bronx hip ... -hop poured onto the streets and subways, taking over in Bronx clubs ... ...

• Word Count: 303
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... style, they set new trends for women's hairstyles, makeup, and clothes. The Roaring Twenties was a decade for music in the U.S. A new type of music, Jazz, was created by Black musicians in New Orleans from ragtime and blues. The new music was quick to spread through the United States, then through the world. One of the heroes of Jazz was Louis Armstrong who aided in the creation of the new type of ... and fun. Some moved to Europe because of this attitude towards America. Many young writers did becomes extremely popular though including Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitz...

• Word Count: 909
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... 't use it very much and he kept all sorts of nut shells in the desk drawer. The main character was Bartleby. He was pallidly neat, pitiably respectable and incurably forlorn. He also was a very quiet man. Bartleby was an extraordinary writer. He seemed to gorge himself in all of the documents and he never seemed to stop writing and go home. He neverseemed to talk either ... laborer and then shipped to Honolulu, Hawaii, where in 1843 he enlisted as a seaman on the U.S. Navy frigate United States. After his discharge in 1844 he began to create novels out of his experiences and to take part...

• Word Count: 2059
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... today claim that song is the reason they rap. Rap has come a long way from the days of Run-DMC and N.W.A. Yet these groups help start the crazy popularity of rap music. It was the first time a type of music incorporated a type of style or attitude to go along with it. Run-DMC helped make Adidas the hot item to wear, by always wearing them and writing songs about them. (My ... Adidas) N.W.A. had an f*ck the police attitude and made gangsta ... music very popular. Since I wasn't really old enough, I can't attest to why they were insanely popular. Now you have the wannabe gangsters ... ...

• Word Count: 834
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... well, but I feel sorry for him because nobody can understand his dream, and it is not realistic. Holden seems to be too good a person to be in this corrupt world. The style of this book is unusual because it is told by a sixteen-year-old boy who appears to be sympathetic since he is so amusing. However, one ... of the problems with this style is that some of the things he observes might not be true, but somewhat exaggerated and biased. We are not very sure that he is even mentally stable since he tells us the story from a hospital bed. Despite these things, this style is highly effectiv...

• Word Count: 859
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... was born Edith Jones in 1862, into an upper class New York City family. She was engaged at a young age, yet the marriage was called off because of the Jones family's snobbish reputation. Jones finally married Edward Wharton in 1885, though and though her marriage soon went to ruins, she ... finally divorced her husband in 1913, but never relinquished his last name. The loveless marriage Wharton endured for 28 years adds greatly to her success as a writer. With an unhappy matrimony, Wharton devoted her energy to her writing, causing wide-reaching success, which was at that time unusual fo...

• Word Count: 483
• Approx Pages: 2

... in Glamour Magazine and Vogue Magazine. In the mid 1950's he became the chief illustrator for I. Miller Shoes. His sculptures of Brillo Boxes (1964) and depictions of Coca-Cola bottles (1962) brought worldwide recognition. Though his paintings retained much of the style of popular advertising, their motivation was just the opposite. The most famous of the paintings during it's time, was the paintings of thirty- two depictions of Campbell Soup cans. One in particular, "Campbell ... 's Soup Box", is a good example of "repetition". Another example of "repetition" was his painting of "16 Jac...

• Word Count: 873
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Cullen was 15 Reverend Frederick Cullen and Carolyn Cullen unofficially adopted him. The Reverend lived in Harlem, New York where he was the minister of Salem M.L. Church one of the biggest congregations of Harlem. The Reverend Cullen had helped formed the National Urban League and served as president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (Goetz 780) Cullen's biological mother never tried ... literary career. (Cayne 210) When Cullen finally graduated from New York University in1925 his first collections of poems, COLOR, was publi...

• Word Count: 1342
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... . Warhol's creativity bloomed when living in New York. He was a person who thought out of the box, with everything he did. He was never ordinary. One of the pieces that he is known for is the picture of the Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup can. His style of artwork was built around a lot of imitations and reproductions of things that have already been done or created. Andy Warhol was known for this ... type of art, and is the second theme in this novel. Warhol was known for his famous ... pieces like paintings of bananas, Coca-Cola bottles, boxes of Brillo pads, and the picture of Marilyn...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... about the culture of hip-hop. Many people don't even know what the word "hip-hop" means, or where it came from. The word "hip-hop" comes from the Senegalese word "hipi" meaning, "to open one's eyes to the world we live in." Hip-Hop, genre originating in the mid-1970s among black and Hispanic performers in New York City, at first associated with an athletic style of dancing ... , known as break dancing. The word rap, derived from a 1960s slang word for ... conversation, generally consists of chanted, often improvised, street poetry accompanied by a montage of well-known recordings, usual...

• Word Count: 235
• Approx Pages: 1

Ronald Takaki's "The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority" is a fantastic piece of writing. He is an Asian American himself so he has much insight on this topic of superiority. He wishes to illustrate that the perceptions of Asian Americans as a "model minority" (103) are not entirely accurate. A "model minority" is a stereotype that is defined as an oversimplified conception, opinion, or image. Although Takaki doesn't state this definition, ... Asian Americans might be successful compared to other minority groups, however they still have ground to make up before the reach the ranks of equality...

• Word Count: 558
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... author, success does not come easily and working toward it can be laborious, especially due to the scarce amount of existing African American women authors in the mid-1960s. Hurston did what other writers could not. She captured the rhythms of African American life and speech in her writing. Hurston's black heritage and her family's experiences let her connect on a deeper level when other ... authors could not. Hurston's early life consisted of religion since both of the male figures in her family were preachers in the small town of Eatonville, Florida, one of the first official all-bla...

• Word Count: 1464
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... developed in New York City in the 1970's mainly by African Americans, first emerging from The Bronx; the lifestyle of Hip-hop culture has now spread to urban and suburban communities worldwide. In hip-hop there is a unique style of how one speaks dresses, carries themselves, and many more that go along with the expression in the culture. The four historic elements of Hip-Hop are emceeing, DJ' ... ing, graffiti, and break dancing. The elements, unique style, and expression all are responsible for hip-hop's evolution and its strong cultural influence ... to the world. I think hip-hop has b...

• Word Count: 665
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... disgrace to his wife because he thinks its fine to look at other woman while he is with or even around his wife Frances. He has the mind of a teenage boy who thinks of women as sex symbols who are on this earth to please men. Michael explains to his wife Frances that, " I casually inspect ... at woman as they pass by, and she notifies him how much that irks her. But Michael being the man he is disregards her feelings and pours every secret he has about woman in detail. He talks about the variety of woman that grabs his attention and he speaks about them as if he wants them. Michael is a ...

• Word Count: 782
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... true. They had to fight and struggle with discrimination just because they were "different". Gish Jen is a daughter of immigrant parents. She now is an American citizen but here life wasn't always easy along with her parents. As asked in an interview about her writing, she said she didn't think she would have been a writer today if it weren't for her parents ... to be "perfect" in everything that she did. She had to have extremely high goals and there was no choice other then to reaching them. She told about how a lot of Chinese technical students were held in America against their will...

• Word Count: 665
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... . He replied we are going into the city to help out. To get to the city it's a long trip, the Northern State to the Meadowbrook to the Southern State to The Belt and then take it all the way in (the guys knew the way). By the time we arrived both towers had fallen, and many of our NYC brothers were in the buildings. The tears of remorse started to fall from my eyes ... Sleeps". On September 11, 2001 no human being in the New York State area was sleeping. I mean how can anyone sleep when two planes crashed into two buildings that represent New York, your windows broken, car destroyed, YOU...

• Word Count: 795
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... devoted her life to her writing and her social activism. Throughout her career, Bambara used her writings to convey social and political messages about the welfare of the African-American community and of African-American women especially. According to Alice A. Deck in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, the author was "one of the best representatives of the group of Afro-American writers who, during the 1960s, became directly involved in the cultural activities in urban ... devoted her life to her writing and her social activism. Throughout her career, Bambara used her writings to co...

• Word Count: 1387
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... aggressive, and confronted race and ethnicity issues head on. Having been involved with militant black leaders such as Malcolm X, Powell was used to and accepting of the militant leader's style of forcing government to hear his demands. Powell considered himself on the "Militant wing of the racial protest movement" (Hamilton 4). "His aim in race relations was not to be polite, but rather deliberately to raise ... to them and both knew how to read people well. They differed most in their style of politics. Adam Clayton Powell was known for his wildness and unpredictability that made him ...

• Word Count: 1701
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... his works and she got him seriously started in writing (Encarta). In an article about Langston Hughes in The Reference Library of Black America it talks about all the places in the world that Hughes has traveled. He probably used much of the information of the cultures of other countries to write. Hughes traveled all over the world as a seaman. He went to the Soviet Union, Haiti, Japan, Spain, Genoa, France, and ... the city of Harlem. He was even called the "Poet-Laureate of Harlem" because of his understanding for the city. Hughes best volume of Harlem works is Montage of a Dream Defe...

• Word Count: 978
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... in Hughes" "Theme for English B." In the first lines of "Chicago," Sandburg acquaints the reader with the reputation Chicago has received as a city writing, "They tell me you are wicked and I believe them." Following these lines, Sandburg completely shifts the mood and instead writes about some of the unpleasant features of the city such as the "painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys," the "gunman kill and go free to kill ... again," and the "faces of woman and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger." However, Sandburg uses the prejudices held for the people ......

• Word Count: 393
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate