In school, whether it be at the high school or college levels, there are usually lists of books thought as being essential reading. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.--a Pulitzer Prize winning historian--calls this list in his book The Disuniting of America, a 'canon' or 'canonical literature.' A problem exists with this canon, at least Schlesinger claims there is. He states that the canon is being used 'as an instrument of European oppression enforcing the …showed first 75 words of 1041 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1041 total…culture. Because of this, we did not receive a complete multicultural education. Bibliography 1. 'culture.' The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Third         Edition. 1992. 2. Drabble, Margaret. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. 2. Perkins, George and Barbara, and Phillip Leininger. Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. 3. Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1992.