Humanities Textbooks

Advanced Community College ESL Composition: An Integrated Skills Approach

Contributors: Perez, Behseta, and Rae

Publisher: Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

This book has been created to provide a framework for building your skills in writing and critical thinking. It provides access to published samples from professional authors along with essay drafts from ESL students who have polished their skills in their respective writing courses.

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Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context

Contributor: Morgan-Ellis

Publisher: University of North Georgia Press

Welcome to Resonances: Engaging Music in Its Cultural Context! Although this book is intended primarily for use in the college music appreciation classroom, it was designed with consideration for independent learners, advanced high school students, and experienced musicians. That is to say, it includes enough detail that expert guidance is not required and is written using broadly-accessible language. At the same time, it addresses advanced topics and positions music as a serious object of study.

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Oregon’s History: People of the Northwest in the Land of Eden

Contributors: Michaels and Hakanson

Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources

This “open textbook” is a social and cultural history of the people of Oregon representing powerful figures from the dominant Euro-American culture, the marginalized and oppressed, and social and political reformers who shaped the historical legacy of the state. It is a story of the diverse array of immigrants who helped build the state and strengthen it. The title is a recollection of the racial fantasies that European-American settlers created in their expansionist vision of the West and the state of Oregon. Initially the Oregon Territory was built on intolerance and racial exclusivity, but eventually Oregon embraces its diversity, but not without struggle and heartache. Our journey through the past starts with an essential question, “Who are the people of Oregon?”

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Music on the Move

Contributor: Fosler-Lussier

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Music is a mobile art. When people move to faraway places, whether by choice or by force, they bring their music along. Music creates a meaningful point of contact for individuals and for groups; it can encourage curiosity and foster understanding; and it can preserve a sense of identity and comfort in an unfamiliar or hostile environment. As music crosses cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries, it continually changes. While human mobility and mediation have always shaped music-making, our current era of digital connectedness introduces new creative opportunities and inspiration even as it extends concerns about issues such as copyright infringement and cultural appropriation.

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Technical Theatre Practicum - Version 1

Contributor: Boltz

Publisher: College of the Canyons

Welcome to the exciting world of technical theatre. Studying this topic can lead to many different careers in several different sectors of the economy. The general skills needed for any of the careers or sectors have many things in common. Workers need to be dead-line oriented, as most productions have firm timelines that cannot be altered. Critical thinking and analysis are much needed skills. Almost every project in the field is unique and technicians and designers alike must discover the best way of reaching a project’s goal. Creative problem solving is trait successful practitioners have in common. With every project being unique, there are no guaranteed solutions to the problems that are presented. Technicians draw on their vast experience of what worked in the past that can be adapted to be a solution to the current problems. Clear communication and collaboration round out the necessary skills. No technical theatre project is ever handled by one person on their own. Collaboration with many people is the norm, and successful collaboration requires clear written and verbal communication skills.

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Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience

Contributors: Farrington, Powell, and Graham

Publisher: Encompass Digital Archive

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

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Vocal Techniques for the Instrumentalist - 2nd edition

Contributor: Rosine

Publisher: New Prairie Press

Vocal Techniques, the course title used at many institutions, is essentially a voice class for instrumentalists, and is a required course for instrumental music education majors seeking all-level certification. Students take at least one Vocal Techniques course to learn proper singing technique along with basic pedagogy and can include teaching techniques as they apply to adolescent singers. The focus of the course is the development of the individual singing voice. This includes breathing, tone production, articulation, musicality and textual expression and understanding. Students also develop confidence in front of groups, improve their general vocal quality, and learn that a healthy voice serves them well in the general and performance classroom.

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Studying the Bible: The Tanakh and Early Christian Writings

Contributors: Eiselein, Goins, and Wood

Publisher: New Prairie Press

Studying the Bible: The Tanakh and Early Christian Writings is a university-level, textbook introduction to the study of the Bible, its literary forms, and historical and cultural contexts. This textbook is a companion to the Bible courses taught in the English Department at Kansas State University, in particular ENGL 470 The Bible, though it is available for use in other courses and contexts. This textbook examines the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Tanakh) and the early Christian writings of the New Testament. It is an introduction to the analysis of biblical texts, their histories, and their interpretations. The emphasis throughout this textbook is on the literary qualities of these biblical texts as well as their cultural and historical contexts.

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