Caputi (women's studies and communication, Florida Atlantic U.) describes popular culture as a repository of ancient myth and folklore that constitute a "dreamtime" into which we over-organized modern
Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture is John G. Cawelti’s discussion of American popular culture and violence, from its precursors in Homer and Shakespeare to the Lone
Trick-or-treating. Flower girls. Bedtime stories. Bar and bat mitvah. In a nation of increasing ethnic, familial, and technological complexity, the patterns of children's live
When the wounded bear he faced on a mountain ledge that day turned aside, James Oliver Curwood's relief was that his life had been spared. More than that resulted from this encounter; his life was pro
Anatomy of Murder identifies and explores three basic fictional forms dealing with murder and detection—mystery, detective, and crime fiction. Mystery fiction takes place in a centered world, o
Is it possible today to understand current genres such as drama and theater without considering the influence of television? Elizabeth Klaver argues that television’s dominance of the entertain
Walking Shadows dramatically dissects the wild, high-profile battle between newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and famous young actor, director, and filmmaker Orson Well
Elusion Aforethought provides significant new material on the work of crime and detection fiction writer Anthony Berkeley Cox, a popular and prolific English journalist, satirist, and novelist in the
Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla traces the evolution of ice cream from a rarity to an everyday indulgence. It covers the genesis of ice cream in America, the invention of the hand-cranked ice crea
This work explores John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series, with special emphasis on MacDonald's examination of the conflicts and joys of twentieth-century American culture and society. MacDonald desc
For more than sixty years, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans personified the romantic, mythic West that Americans cherished. Blazing a trail through every branch of the entertainment industry-radio, film, rec
Film and television are subjects of intense study throughout higher education today. Popular culture has undergone a revolution during the last generation, progressing from a discipline at the margin
A neglected genre that promises to shed light on the culture of consumption appears in the form of the daytime television game shows whose hegemonic message seems to convey and to justify a widesprea
Zalampas applies the psychological model of Alfred Adler to Adolf Hitler through the examination of his views on architecture, art, and music. This study was made possible by the publication of Billy
The transformation of a house into a home has been in our culture a traditional task of women. The articles examine this process as they reflected the role of American middle-class women as homemaker
German science fiction offers a most interesting contribution to the history and criticism of science fiction. William B. Fischer examines two writers, Kurd Lasswitz and Hans Dominik. He concludes tha
This book of essays looks at the multitude of texts and influences which converge in Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, especially the film’s relationship to its source novel, Philip K. Di
"In my dream I was reaching right through the glass of the window of a hock shop. It was the hock shop on North Clark Street, the west side of the street, half a block north of Grand Avenue. I was rea
Isn't Justice Always Unfair? explores the uncommonly long and uncommonly rich relationship between the fictional detective and his or her South. It covers the satires and parodies of Mark Twain, the
A distinguished physician and professor of medicine at Edinburgh University, and a forensic expert for the British Crown, Joseph Bell was well known for his remarkable powe
These essays assess the nature of nuclear war literature from a variety of perspectives. Scholars, activists, novelists, poets, and teachers challenge nuclear ideologies and traditional readings of a
Al Capp entertained, fascinated, delighted, repelled, outraged, lauded, insulted and satirized hundreds of people, places, attitudes and conventions. All of this took place in the panels of his daily
This book provides needed information on the collaborations between filmmakers and theater personnel before 1930 and completes our understanding of how two art forms influenced each other. It begins
Stephen King’s popularity lies in his ability to reinterpret the standard Gothic tale in new and exciting ways. Through his eyes, the conventional becomes unconventional and wonderful. King thus creat
Raymond Chandler’s eminence as a mystery writer is unchallenged. Somerset Maugham and George Grella both rate him above Dashiell Hammett; Eric Partridge deems him “a serious artist and a very consider
“Rednecks” have long been subjects of scorn and ridicule, especially in the South. Carr probes the historical and sociological reasons for the descent of this social class into poverty, t
Today the vampire is a major cultural icon and can be found in breakfast foods, comics, television, computer games, films, and books from academic studies to best-selling novels. While readers may be
From the 1920s through the 1950s, the famous Black Mask pulp magazine was the place where crime and mystery writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, and John D. MacDon
This book discusses the figure of the unchaste woman in a wide range of fiction written between 1835 and 1880; serious novels by Dickens, Mrs. Gaskell, Meredith, and George Eliot; popular novels that
Of making many books about Shakespeare (and to a lesser extent other Elizabethan dramatists and poets) there is no end. But of the common people of England at what may be regarded as its cultural zeni
Gift Giving brings together 21 scholars from a variety of disciplines - including consumer behavior, communications, and sociology - who are dedicated to the understanding of what motivates gift selec
In this anthology, outstanding authorities present their assessments of literary madness in a variety of topics and approaches. The entire collection of essays presents intriguing aspects of the Dion
Snapshot Versions of Life is an important foray into the culture of photography and home life from an anthropologist’s perspective. Examining what he calls “Home Mode” photography, Richard Chalfen exp
This book relates the founding in America, and effectiveness of, a branch of the worldwide organization of volunteers known as the Samaritans, committed to the prevention of suicide through the simple
In journeys of self-discovery, quests to define our national identity, opportunities to escape from the daily routine, and expressions of social protest - the American road narrative has been a signi
Popular Culture: An Introductory Text provides the means for a new examination of the different faces of the American character in both its historical and contemporary identities. The text is highlig
Statistics indicate that more than half the population of America is illiterate or subliterate in the conventional sense, but very literate in other media such as television, sports, and leisure time
Even in Hollywood’s world of blockbusters and special effects, there continues to be interest in “quieter” adaptations based on the works of writers of other eras, especially the cl
Norman Anderson has written a gripping story of one of the engineering marvels of both the nineteenth and the twentieth century, the ferris wheel. The idea of this contraption may be as old as the wa
The Reader and the Detective Story is unique—it treats the detective story as a special case of reading, governed by special rules and shaped by a highly specialized formula. The method of interpretat
