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Course readings:
The Puritans
The Rhetoric of a New Nation
Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction
American Romantics
Twentieth Century
Calendar:
An American Century
Assignments:
Written Assignments
Oral Presentations
Groups:
An American Century
Links
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Mr. Francis
SHS English Department
The AP English portion of this interdisciplinary American Studies course is a
chronological survey of American literature from 1620 to present day. Students will read,
interpret, and write about texts from a wide-range of eras and genres, placing each within its
historical context. This is a college-level course. Students will be encouraged to take the
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Examination.
The core thematic goal of this course is to explore the evolution of an "American identity" in the United States, for
the individual and the community, as depicted in influential and/or popular literature. It seeks to consider how a culture inspires
and is inspired by its own art and rhetoric. Its main secondary purpose is to challenge and develop student's analytical skills,
both as readers and as writers, in pursuit of a higher mastery of language arts skills.
Students will demonstrate proficiency in writing through a variety of genres and modes, including personal, persuasive,
expository, analytical, and satiric. They will show an awareness of audience while each working to develop his or her own
unique voice . . .
[Complete syllabus]
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N.B. All readings, reading schedules, and assignments below are tentative and subject
to change.
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Calendar:
| 01.12 |
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17:
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18:
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19:
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20:
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23:
Ragtime
day 10
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31:
Spring Term Begins
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| The Puritans |
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Caliban resources for Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror (1993):
handout
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from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation (1650):
selection
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from John Winthrop's A Model of Christian Charity (1630):
.pdf |
pfv
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from The New England Primer (1683):
selections
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from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647):
selection
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from Anne Bradstreet's The Tenth Muse (1650) and other poems:
· "The Author To Her Book"
.pdf |
pfv
· "Before the Birth of One of Her Children"
.pdf |
pfv
· "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House"
.pdf |
pfv
· "A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment"
.pdf |
pfv
· "The Prologue"
.pdf |
pfv
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from Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741):
.pdf |
pfv
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| The Rhetoric of a New Nation |
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from Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776):
selection |
e-text
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Thomas Jefferson's The Declaration of Independence (1776):
complete text
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from de Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer (1782):
selection
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James Madison's The Federalist No. 10 (1787):
complete text
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from The Autobiography (1771-1790) of Benjamin Franklin:
selection |
e-text
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George Washington's Farewell Address (1796):
complete text
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| Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction |
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Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845):
e-text
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· Day 1 front matter and chapters 1-3.
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· Day 2 chapters 4-9.
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· Day 3 chapter 10.
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· Day 4 chapter 11-end.
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Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861):
e-text
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Day 1 front matter, I. Childhood, VII. The Lover, X. A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl's
Life, XIV. Another Link to Life, XXI. The Loophole of Retreat, XLI. Free at Last.
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Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884):
e-text
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· Day 1 chapters 1-4.
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· Day 2 chapters 5-7.
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· Day 3 chapters 8-10.
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· Day 4 chapters 11-13.
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· Day 5 chapters 14-16.
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· Day 6 chapters 17 & 18.
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· Day 7 chapters 19-23.
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· Day 8 chapters 24-28.
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· Day 9 chapters 29-33.
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· Day 10 chapter 34-end.
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| The American Romantics |
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Ralph Waldo Emerson:
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from "Nature" (1836): selections
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"The American Scholar" (1836):
e-text
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"Divinity School Address" (1836):
e-text
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"Self-Reliance" (1841):
e-text
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from "The Over-Soul" (1841):
selections
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"Circles" (1841):
e-text
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Henry David Thoreau:
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Walden (1854):
e-text
· Day 1 pages 1-17.*
· Day 2 pages 17-34.
· Day 3 pages 34-54.
* Norton Critical edition
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Resistance to Civil Government (1848, 1849)
e-text
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Walt Whitman:
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Leaves of Grass (1855-92)
e-text
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"Song of Myself" (1855): e-text
· Day 1 chants 1-10. · Day 2 chants 11-20.
· Day 3 chants 21-30. · Day 4 chants 31-40. · Day 5 chants 41-end.
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"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" (1856)
e-text ·
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"O Captain! My Captain!" (1865-6)
e-text
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
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from The House of Seven Gables (1851): Author's Preface
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The Scarlet Letter (1850):
e-text
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· Day 1 chapters 1-3
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· Day 2 chapters 4 & 5
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· Day 3 chapters 6 & 7
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· Day 4 chapters 8 & 9
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· Day 5 chapters 10 & 11
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· Day 6 chapters 12 & 13
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· Day 7 chapters 14 & 15
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· Day 8 chapters 16 & 17
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· Day 9 chapters 18 & 19
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· Day 10 chapters 20 & 21
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· Day 11 chapter 22-end
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| The Twentieth Century |
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Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899):
e-text
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· Day 1 chapters 1-6.
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· Day 2 chapters 7-10.
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· Day 3 chapters 11-16.
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· Day 4 chapters 17-22.
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· Day 5 chapters 23-28.
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· Day 6 chapters 29-33.
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· Day 7 chapters 34-39.
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E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime (1975):
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· Day 1 chapters 1-5.
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· Day 2 chapters 6-9.
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· Day 3 chapters 10-13.
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· Day 4 chapters 14-19.
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· Day 5 chapters 20-23.
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· Day 6 chapters 24-28.
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· Day 7 chapters 29-32.
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· Day 8 chapters 33-35.
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· Day 9 chapters 36-39.
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· Day 10 chapter 40-end.
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Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929):
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· Day 1 chapters 1-6.
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· Day 2 chapters 7-9.
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· Day 3 chapters 10-14.
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· Day 4 chapters 15-19.
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· Day 5 chapters 20-24.
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· Day 6 chapters 25-27.
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· Day 7 chapters 28-32.
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· Day 8 chapters 33-36.
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· Day 9 chapters 37-38.
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· Day 10 chapter 39-end.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925):
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· Day 1 chapter 1.
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· Day 2 chapter 2.
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· Day 3 chapter 3.
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· Day 4 chapter 4.
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· Day 5 chapter 5.
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· Day 6 chapter 6.
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Day 7 chapter 7.
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· Day 8 chapter 8.
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·
Day 9 chapter 9.
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Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937):
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· Day 1 chapters 1-3.
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· Day 2 chapters 4 & 5.
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· Day 3 chapter 6.
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· Day 4 chapters 7-10.
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· Day 5 chapters 11-14.
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· Day 6 chapters 15-18.
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Day 7 chapters 19 & 20.
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J. D. Salinger's Nine Stories (1948-53):
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· Day 1 "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish"
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· Day 2 "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
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· Day 3 "Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
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· Day 4 "The Laughing Man"
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· Day 5 "For Esmé--with Love and Squalor"
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Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (1969):
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· Day 1 chapter 1.
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· Day 2 chapter 2.
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· Day 3 chapter 3.
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· Day 4 chapter 4.
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· Day 5 chapter 5.
from Plato's Republic
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· Day 6 chapter 6.
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Day 7 chapter 7.
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· Day 8 chapter 8.
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Day 9 chapter 9.
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· Day 10 chapter 10.
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James Baldwin's Another Country (1962):
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· Day 1 pp. 1-27.*
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· Day 2 pp. 27-46.
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· Day 3 pp. 46-70.
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· Day 4 pp. 70-88.
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· Day 5 pp. 89-109.
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· Day 6 pp. 109-26.
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Day 7 pp. 127-42.
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· Day 8 pp. 142-64.
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Day 9 pp. 165-79.
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· Day 10 pp. 181-205.
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· Day 11 pp. 205-27.
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· Day 12 pp. 228-46.
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· Day 13 pp. 247-67.
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· Day 14 pp. 267-94.
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· Day 15 pp. 294-315.
* Vintage International edition
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Tony Kushner's Angels in America (1992-1993):
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· Day 1 1.1.1-6.
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· Day 2 1.1.7-9.
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· Day 3 1.2.
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· Day 4 1.3.
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· Day 5 2.1.
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· Day 6 2.2.
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· Day 7 2.3.
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· Day 8 2.4.
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· Day 9 2.5-end.
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Assignments:
Last modified 19 January 2012 08:37
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