This exceptional anthology of British and American prose provides a chronological survey of over ninety of the most important and popular essays written in the twentieth century. Essays in Context acquaints students with the development and evaluation of the essay form while also introducing them to the key historical, cultural, social, and intellectual issues of the last century. The text is organized into eighteen themes to highlight the various patterns of thought and feeling that developed throughout the century. Comprehensive biographic headnotes for the authors and a timeline of historic events help students to place the authors and their works in context. Extensive discussion questions--organized under two headings, Understanding and Analysis and Comparison--follow each selection, motivating students to evaluate the work and relate it to other selections in the text. The volume also includes footnotes and an opening chapter on how to read essays. The selections have been thoroughly annotated to explain terms, people, events, and literary allusions. An ideal text for courses in composition and expository writing, Essays in Context provides students with a framework for understanding and interrogating an extensive range of authors, from Mark Twain and T.S. Eliot to bell hooks and Leslie Marmon Silko.