Readings provide examples of, and opportunities for, critical analysis of American culture. The 74 culturally diverse readings include exemplary, accessible semiotic analyses drawn from academic and mainstream publications as well as materials for students to analyze themselves (scholarly articles, book chapters, online postings, student papers, advertisements, photographs, reportage, editorials, reviews, and op-ed pieces).
Thematic chapters help students look anew at the popular culture they enjoy uncritically. Seven chapters examine the most important manifestations of our popular culture—consumer trends, advertising, social media, television, and film—to prompt students to think and write critically about seemingly ephemeral phenomena that conceal important messages about American culture.
Editorial apparatus presents a critical method and extends it into the composition class, including book and chapter introductions that present popular culture as a text open to decoding by semiotic analysis; an introductory section on "Writing About Popular Culture," with three sample student papers; reading and writing activities after each selection; and a glossary of key terms.
An author team that makes the method accessible to composition students. Sonia Maasik, an experienced composition instructor and textbook author, and Jack Solomon, author of a popular introduction to semiotics for general readers, bring to the book a unique combination of expertise on semiotics and how it can be used in introductory writing courses.