John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Com-munity College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, for over twenty-five years. The author of a popular series of college textbooks on both writing and reading, John enjoys the challenge of developing materials that teach skills in an especially clear and lively way. Before teaching,he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. He also spent a year writing fiction that,he says, "is now at the back of a drawer waiting to be discovered and acclaimed posthumously." While in school, he supported himself by working as a truck driver, a machinist, a battery assembler, a hospital attendant, and an apple packer. John now lives with his wife, Judith Nadell, near Philadelphia. In addition to his wife and Philly sports teams, his passions include reading and turning on nonreaders to the pleasure and power of books. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit "Townsend Library"--a collection of more than thirty new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age.

Highly regarded and used by countless students, this effective rhetoric/handbook/reader is ideal for writing courses that focus on the essay. The sixth edition features Langan's renowned clear writing style and a wide range of writing assignments and activities that reinforce the four essentials of good writing: unity, support, coherence, and sentence skills. College Writing Skills with Readings comes packaged with a free student CD-ROM, a free registration card for access to the Online Learning Center, and a free user's guide to help students gain the maximum benefit from the text and electronic materials.

"I long ago lost count of the number of instructors who have told me that the four bases really work. When you explain the four bases to students and make the bases really clear with a lot of activities, students get it." - John Langan.