Stability and Change in the High-School Canon.

Recent years have been marked by renewed debate about the proper content for the English curriculum. Strong voices have argued that the English curriculum is white, male, and Eurocentric, marginalizing the contributions of women and of people from other cultural traditions. Equally strong voices have reasserted the values of a traditional liberal education, arguing that the curriculum in English has already been diluted too much (Bennett 1988; Hirsch 1987). What is lacking most in such debates, however, is perspective on what is being taught in schools across the nation. What authors and titles are stu-