Popular Culture: A Reader

A comprehensive collection of classic and contemporary writings on popular culture to explain and inspire! Popular Culture: A Reader helps students understand the pervasive role of popular culture and the processes that constitute it as: - a product of industry; - an intellectual object of inquiry - an integral component of all our lives. The volume is divided into 7 thematic sections, and each section is preceded by an introduction which engages with, and critiques, the chapters that follow. The book contains: - classic writings from all the ‘big names’; - plenty of contemporary cultural references that will appeal to students, including skateboarding, hip hop, fashion (Tommy Hilfiger, vintage) websites, Star Trek, Disney etc; - material organized in a skills-focused and learning-focused way; - strong pedagogic features throughout, making this an excellent classroom text; - pieces drawing on diverse national, disciplinary and subdisciplinary contexts; - sensitivity to issues of gender, race and sexuality; - breadth and depth. ‘The selection of essays here is outstanding.The Reader is particularly strong in bridging between founding figures and cutting edge work by newer writers’ - Henry Jenkins, MIT ‘This is an especially comprehensive collection. ..lively and original’ - George Lipsitz, University of California, Santa Cruz ‘An extraordinarily well considered selection of articles and essays, arranged with skill and style’ - Charlie Blake, University College Northampton ‘A book that a student should buy and keep referring to throughout their course’ - Lance Pettitt, Leeds Metropolitan University