Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing, 5/E
Diana George, Virginia Tech University
John Trimbur, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

ISBN-10: 0321122208
ISBN-13: 9780321122209

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2004
Format: Paper; 608 pp
Status: Out of Print

Suggested retail price: $66.40
This item is out of print and is no longer available for purchase.

The original cultural studies reader, this essay collection is widely used for its provocative readings and images on relevant cultural issues and for its outstanding pedagogy.

Written by two respected composition theorists, Reading Culture truly makes use of cultural studies methods—from analyzing texts and historical documents to conducting fieldwork and mini-ethnographies. The first cultural studies reader to also address visual literacy, the text includes more than 100 images of posters, advertisements, photos, and art to accompany and illustrate the readings or as “Visual Essays” and “Visual Culture” segments that stand on their own. The fifth edition enhances that coverage with an appealing new four-color format and full-color art throughout the text. Helping students gain the necessary critical thinking skills to observe and analyze cultural phenomena, the opening chapter introduces reading and writing strategies and features a case study—new to this edition—that shows students how to “read” culture. Always up-to-date, this edition represents a significant revision with several new readings, themes, and visual images.

  • Readings touch on timely, noteworthy cultural issues: teenage violence and youth culture; fashion, advertising, and body image issues; public space and the land of shopping malls; the overworked and underpaid American worker; and rethinking historical icons and heroes.
  • “Visual Culture” segments and “Visual Essays” present examples of commercial and public service ads, film stills, photos, public health messages, and signs in public places along with strategies for interpreting these images.
  • Superior pedagogy includes contextual headnotes, suggestions for reading, writing and discussion—often in small groups—for each selection.
  • “Mining the Archives” activities send students to historical archives, museums, and special collections to examine old newspapers, comic strips, government documents, and textbooks.
  • “Fieldwork sections” ask students to do primary research via interviews, participant observation, questionnaires, and oral histories, and other forms of site-research.
  • “Checking Out the Web” assignments encourage students to use the Internet for further research.

  • Now featuring a striking new four-color design, this edition features additional “Visual Culture” and “Visual Essays” segments; and numerous new assignments that ask students to create their own visual compositions.
  • Fifty-five new pieces are featured in this revision, including authors like Arlie Russell Hochschild, Barbara Kandtrowitz, Keith Nauthon, Richard Porch, Judith Williamson, Naomi Klein, Tibor Kalman, Murphy Davis, Patricia A. Turner, Michael Chabon, and Chinua Achebe.
  • An all new Chapter 1, “Reading the News,” shows students how to “read” culture by presenting a new case study on the news media and its coverage of the September 11th attacks (formerly daytime talk shows).
  • Most chapters now feature a “Classic Reading” written by one of the enduring voices in the study of culture, such as James Agee, Roland Barthes, Margaret Mead, Jane Jacobs, Robert Warshow, W.E.B. DuBois, and Allen Ginsberg.
  • A new Chapter 10, “Living in a Postcolonial World,” examines America from a global perspective and includes a new case study, “The Politics of World English,” which considers the prevalence of English in the world community. (Formerly “Multicultural America.”)
  • “Perspectives” paired readings in every chapter offer differing views on several new controversial topics, including school vouchers, sweatshop economies, designer brands, and “Ground Zero: Commerce and Commemoration.”

* Denotes a new section.

Introduction.

*Raymond Williams, “Culture Is Ordinary.”

*1. Reading the News.

Thinking About the News.

Reading Television News.

Terms to Keep in Mind as You Read Television News.

What is News? Analyzing Content and Audience.

Analyzing Visual and Verbal Codes.

Reading Newspapers.

The Look of the Page: Analyzing Visual Design.

Continuing News: Covering a Story.

Reading News Magazines.

Analyzing Visual Design: The Two-Page Spread.

Cover Stories: Putting a Face on the News.

Reading News on the Web.

Reading About the News—The Case of 9/11.

*Leonard Downie, Jr. and Robert G. Kaiser, “News Values.”

*Jim Rutenberg, “Fox Portrays a War of Good and Evil, and Many Applaud.”

*William Uricchio, “Television Conventions.”

Writing About the News.

Conclusion.

2. Generations.

Reading the Culture of Generations.

Gloria Naylor, “Kiswana Browne.”

Dave Marsh, “Fortunate Son.”

Lawrence Grossberg, “Youth and American Identity.”

Donna Gaines, “Teenage Wasteland.”

Thomas Hine, “Goths in Tomorrowland.”

*Mike Pope, “Gen X's Enduring Legacy: The Internet.”

PERSPECTIVES: Before and After 9/11.

*Arlie Russell Hochschild, “Gen (Fill in the Blank): Coming of Age, Seeking an Identity.”

*Barbara Kantrowitz and Keith Naughton, “Generation 9-11.”

CLASSIC READING.

*Allen Ginsberg, “Howl.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

VISUAL CULTURE: Representations of Youth Culture in Movies.

James Gilbert, “Juvenile Delinquency Films.”

FIELDWORK: Ethnographic Interviews.

Susan D. Craft, Daniel Cavicchi, and Charles Keil, “My Music.”

Fieldwork Project.

Editing.

Writing an Introduction.

MINING THE ARCHIVE: Life Magazine.

3. Schooling.

Reading the Culture of Schooling.

Theodore R. Sizer, “What High School Is.”

Leon Botstein, “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood.”

PERSPECTIVES: School Vouchers.

*Supreme Court Majority Opinion and Dissenting Views.

*“Give Vouchers a Try.”

*“The Wrong Ruling on Vouchers.”

Mike Rose, “Crossing Boundaries.”

Margaret J. Finders, “Note-Passing: Struggles for Status.”

Min-zhan Lu, “From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle.”

June Jordan, “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan.”

CLASSIC READING.

*Lisa Delpit, “Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

VISUAL CULTURE: Picturing Schooldays.

FIELDWORK: Classroom Observation.

Field Log.

Background.

Field Notes.

Analysis.

Writing the Report.

Introduction.

Method.

Observations.

Conclusions.

Worth Anderson, et al., Observations and Conclusions from “Cross-Curricular Underlife: A Collaborative Report on Ways with Academic Words.”

MINING THE ARCHIVES: Textbooks from the Past.

4. Images.

Reading Images.

Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen, “In the Shadow of the Image.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: “Selling Magic.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: “It's a Woman Thing.”

*bell hooks, “Facing Difference: The Black Female Body.”

*Kalle Lasn, “Hype.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: “Rewriting the Image.”

VISUAL ESSAY: “Public Health Messages.”

*CLASSIC READING.

James Agee, “A Way of Seeing: An Introduction to the Photographs of Helen Levitt.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

MINING THE ARCHIVE: Advertising Through the Ages.

5. Style.

Reading Style.

Dick Hebdige, “Style in Revolt: Revolting Style.”

VISUAL ESSAY: Graphic Design in Rock Culture.

PERSPECTIVES: Analyzing Product Design.

*Richard Porch, “The Digital Watchs: Tribal Bracelets of the Consumer Society.”

*Judith Williamson, “Urban Spaceman.”

*Steven Skov Holt, “Beauty and Blob: Product Culture Now.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: “The Age of Blobjects.”

PERSPECTIVES: Branding.

*Naomi Klein, “No Logo.”

*The Economist, “Who's Wearing the Trousers.”

*Jonah Peretti “No Sweat, No Slang.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: Tiber Kalman, “Sweet-Talking Spaghetti Sauce: How to Read a Label.”

CLASSIC READING.

*Roland Barthes, “Wine and Milk.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

*MINING THE ARCHIVE: Race and Branding.

6. Public Space.

Reading Public Space.

Barry Lopez, “Borders.”

John Fiske, “Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power, and Resistance.”

Mike Davis, “Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space.”

*Murphy Davis, “Woodruff Park and the Search for Common Ground.”

Eva Sperling Cockcroft and Holly Barnet Sánchez, “Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals.”

PERSPECTIVES: Ground Zero-Commerce and Commemoration.

*Herbert Muschamp, “The Commemorative Beauty of Tragic Wreckage.”

*Larry Silverstein, “Rebuild at Ground Zero.”

CLASSIC READING.

*Jane Jacobs, “The Uses of Sidewalks-Safety.”

VISUAL CULTURE: Reading Interpretive Space.

FIELDWORK: Observing the Uses of Public Space.

Fieldwork Project.

Mapping the Space.

Taking Notes.

Watching People.

Asking Questions.

Writing Up Your Findings.

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

MINING THE ARCHIVES: Take a Walking Tour.

7. Storytelling.

Reading Storytelling.

Jan Harold Brunvand, “‘ The Hook’ and Other Teenage Horrors.”

*Patricia A. Turner, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

Stephen King, “Why We Crave Horror Movies.”

*A.O. Scott, “A Hunger for Fantasy and an Empire to Feed It.”

PERSPECTIVES: Writing Superheroes.

*Roger Ebert, “Spider-Man.”

*Michael Chabon, from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

CLASSIC READING.

*Robert Warshow, “The Gangster as Tragic Hero.”

VISUAL CULTURE: Composing a Visual Narrative.

*Jacob Lawrence, The Harriet Tubman Series.

FIELDWORK: Writing a Questionnaire.

Suggestions for Designing a Questionnaire.

Sample Questionnaire.

Report on Your Findings.

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

MINING THE ARCHIVE: Comic Strips and Comic Books.

8. Work.

Reading Work.

Sandra Cisneros, “The First Job.”

Scott Adams, “The Dilbert Principle.”

Arlie Russell Hoschschild, “Work: The Great Escape.”

Barbara Ehrenreich, “Nickel-and-Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.”

PERSPECTIVES: Sweatshop Economy.

*Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, “Two Cheers for Sweatshops.”

*Tom Hayden and Charles Kernaghan, “Pennies an Hour and No Way Up.”

CLASSIC READING.

*Tillie Olson, “I Stand Here Ironing.”

VISUAL CULTURE: Women's Work.

FIELDWORK: Reconstructing the Network of a Workplace.

James P. Spradley and Brenda J. Mann, “The Cocktail Waitress.”

Fieldwork Project.

Background.

Analysis: Reconstructing the Social Network of the Workplace.

Conclusion.

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

MINING THE ARCHIVE: Lewis Hine and the Social Uses of Photography.

9. American History.

Reading History.

Mary Gordon, “More than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghosts of Ellis Island.”

Jane Tompkins, “Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History.”

Christopher Phillips, “Necessary Fictions: Warren Neidach's Early American Cover-Ups.”

*VISUAL ESSAY: Warren Neidach, “Contra-Curtis: Early American Cover-Ups.”

PERSPECTIVES: Interpreting the Vietnam War.

George B. Tindall and David E. Shi, “The Tragedy of Vietnam.”

Loren Baritz, “God's Country and American Know-How.”

Wallace Terry, “Private First Class Reginald‘ Malik’ Edwards.

Kristin Ann Hass, ”Making a Memory of War: Building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.“

*Marita Sturken, “Spectacle of Memory and Amnesia: Remembering the Persian Gulf War.”

CLASSIC READING.

Margaret Mead, “We Are All Third Generation.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

VISUAL CULTURE: Photographing History.

Alan Trachtenberg, “Reading American Photographs.”

VISUAL ESSAY The Vietnam War.

FIELDWORK: Oral History.

Considerations in Doing an Oral History.

MINING THE ARCHIVE: Local Museums and Historical Societies.

*10. Living in a Postcolonial World.

Reading Life in a Postcolonial World.

*Amitava Kumar, “Passport Photos.”

*Elaine H. Kim, “Home is Where the Han’ Is: A Korean American Perspective on the Los Angeles Upheavals.”

Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”

*CASE STUDY: The Politics of World English.

*Alastair Pennycock, “Our Marvelous Tongue; The Wondrous Spread of English.”

*PERSPECTIVES: African Writing, Mother Tongue, and the English Language.

*Chinua Achebe, “The African Writer and the English Language.”

*Ngugi wa Thiong ' o, “The Language of African Literature.”

*Edward W. Said, “Culture and Imperialism.”

CLASSIC READING.

*W.E.B. DuBois, “The Souls of Our Striving.”

CHECKING OUT THE WEB.

*VISUAL CULTURE: Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Pena: Postcolonial Representation.

*MINING THE ARCHIVE: 19th Century Orientalist Painting.

    Acclaimed for its compelling readings and provocative images, Reading Culture provides students with outstanding instruction on how to read and write critically about the culture that surrounds them.

     

    Written by two highly respected composition theorists, Reading Culture asks students to examine how culture organizes social experiences and shapes our identities.  From analyzing texts and historical documents to conducting fieldwork and mini-ethnographies, students are invited actively investigate culture using cultural studies methods. The first cultural studies reader to also address visual literacy, Reading Culture features a striking four-color format and includes more than 100 images of posters, advertisements, photos, and art to accompany and illustrate the readings or as “Visual Essays” and “Visual Culture” segments that stand on their own. Always up-to-date, this edition represents a significant revision with new readings, features, and visual images to help students gain the necessary critical thinking skills to observe and analyze a broad range of cultural phenomena.

  • 0321391691Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing, 6/E
    George & Trimbur
    © 2007 | Longman | Paper; 608 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0321391691 | ISBN-13: 9780321391698
    Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore

For First-Year Composition - Reader


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