This brief rhetoric of argument with an anthology of readings on contemporary issues takes a non-Toulmin based approach to writing arguments in an electronic age. By stressing the rhetorical situation and the audience, the rhetoric avoids complicated terminology in favor of providing students with the practical means to find good reasons for the positions they want to advocate. The rhetoric includes readings by professional and student writers, including a pivotal selection from Rachel Carson's extraordinarily influential argument, Silent Spring. The anthology reprints over 60 arguments on interesting current issues: the environment, affirmative action, censorship, Title IX, substance abuse, gay rights, and the body.