"This book studies some of the important myths of masculinity in popular culture, including the western, the horror film, rock music and pornography. The book begins with an assessment of some of the key theoretical issues in gender studies and cultural studies, including identi…
"In this compendium, contributors consider the role of math in blockbuster films, baseball, crossword puzzles, fantasy role-playing games, and television shows to science fiction tales, award-winning plays and classic works of literature. Revealing the broad range of intersectio…
This study attempts to outline a theory of popular culture in capitalist societies. It is published simultaneously, and as an extension of, "Reading the Popular", an analysis of key sites and texts where culture is made, ranging from the beach to Madonna, from TV News to Sears T…
This volume explores a number of instances of unexpected but influential readings of the Bible in popular culture, literature, film, music and politics. The argument in all of them is that the effects of the Bible continues to have an effect on contemporary culture in ways that …
"Why do people hold onto traditions? Many pundits predicted that modernization and the proliferation of mass culture would eliminate traditions, particularly in America. But modern cultural practices constantly invoke tradition for the development of identity, heritage, and comm…
"In this compelling story about one of the nineteenth century's most famous Americans, Benjamin Reiss uses P.T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman who…
Reiss uses P. T. Barnum's Joice Heth hoax to examine the contours of race relations in the antebellum North. Barnum's first exhibit as a showman, Heth was an elderly enslaved woman said to be the 161-year-old former nurse of the infant George Washington. Seizing upon the novelty…