In his latest book, Marshall Gregory begins with the premise that our lives are saturated with stories, ranging from magazines, books, films, television, and blogs to the words spoken by politicians, pastors, and teachers. He then explores the ethical implication of this nearly universal human obsession with narratives. Through careful readings of Katherine Anne Porter's "The Grave," Thurber's "The Catbird Seat," as well as David Copperfield and Wuthering Heights, Gregory asks (and answers) the question: How do the stories we absorb in our daily lives influence the kinds of persons we turn out to be? Shaped by Stories is accessible to anyone interested in ethics, popular culture, and education. It will encourage students and teachers to become more thoughtful and perceptive readers of stories.

Marshall Gregory is Harry Ice Professor of English, Liberal Education, and Pedagogy at Butler University. He is co-author with Ellie Chambers of Teaching and Learning English Literature and co-author with Wayne Booth of The Harper and Row Rhetoric: Writing as Thinking, Thinking as Writing and The Harper and Row Reader: Liberal Education Through Reading and Writing.