The piece had no hook, from the beginning it lost me with the first reference of T.D. Jakes setting up his thesis statement that American essays preach. When Vincent Cunningham described how the writings are, “argumentative, Insistent, and irritating” he left out boring, which I feel best described his “What Makes an Essay American.” His use of other authors did not support his idea, because I have not read any of the works and I did not feel that the brief reference provided the support necessary. An essay in his opinion should be challenging and constructed soundly to gain the consideration and reaction of the reader. Writing is personal, each having their own method of telling a story, Mr. Cunningham did not grab me from the beginning and