Common Culture

Book excerpt: For Freshman Composition courses and Popular Culture courses. From Barbie to the Internet, the Simpsons to the malls, this engaging text on pop culture helps students develop critical and analytical skills and write clear prose while reading, thinking, and writing about subjects they find interesting. Spanning a full range of topics, this text provides key reading and writing strategies; it contains essays addressing a topic generally followed by an in-depth exploration of related material. In addition to the readings, each section begins with a catchy cultural artifact that leads students into a detailed introduction, discussion questions, essay topics, and suggestions for further reading and research.