Social science / Media Studies

Virilio and the Media

by John Armitage

In books such as The Aesthetics of Disappearance, War and Cinema, The Lost Dimension, and The Vision Machine, Paul Virilio has fundamentally changed how we think about contemporary media culture. Virilio’s...

Tales from Facebook

by Daniel Miller

Facebook is now used by nearly 500 million people throughout the world, many of whom spend several hours a day on this site. Once the preserve of youth, the largest increase in usage today is amongst the older...

Reporting from the Bridge

by Aydogan Vatandas

In this series of fifteen essays with leading figures in the journalism and publishing fields, Aydogan Vatandas brings his unique investigative approach and perspective as a journalistic bridge-builder to explore...

Look at the Bunny: Totem, Taboo, Technology

by Pettman Dominic

An essential guide to those technological totems and taboos which help us navigate the chaotic terrain of today's mediascape.

The Digitally Divided Self: Relinquishing our Awareness to the Internet

by Ivo Quartiroli & David Carr

"It isn't easy to find an informed and critical look at the impact of digital media practices on human lives and minds. Ivo Quartiroli offers an informed critique based in both an understanding of technology...

The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Change

by Alan Sepinwall

ONE OF NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CRITIC MICHIKO KAKUTANI’S 10 FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

ONE OF HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S 12 BEST HOLLYWOOD-RELATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR

In The Revolution Was Televised, celebrated TV critic...

Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy

by Lindsay Tanner

Written by former Australian Labor Party federal minister for finance Lindsay Tanner, this insider’s perspective demonstrates how media coverage of Australian politics is becoming distorted, trivial, and juvenile,...

Guilty: Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs After 9/11

by Jack G. Shaheen

"Nothing will be the same again." Americans scarred by the experience of 9/11 often express this sentiment. But what remains the same, argues Jack G. Shaheen, is Hollywood's stereotyping of Arabs. Before 9/11,...

Just Trust Me: Finding the Truth in a World of Spin

by G. Randy Kasten

SUVs are the safest vehicle because they’re so large-right? Wrong! That’s the advertising pitch, but in 2000, they had the highest rollover rate (36%) of any vehicle type involved in fatal accidents. Yet...

Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way

by Harry Brod

Many of us know that the superheroes at the heart of the American comic book industry were created by Jews. But we’d be surprised to learn how much these beloved characters were shaped by the cultural and...

Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music, and Internet Culture

by Mark James Russell

How Korea became a surprise entertainment and Internet powerhouse: a guide to the innovators, stars, and the emerging new media.

Unique: Telling Your Story in the Age of Brands and Social Media

by Phil Cooke

Today’s culture is more connected than any time in history, but all of this connectivity comes with a price. We live in a world that's become cluttered, distracted and disrupted by social media, with the average...

Weighing Anchors: When Network Newscasters Don't Know Write from Wrong

by Mervin Block

Evening News Stars Often Fail Us. Can You Spot Their Mistakes?

Longtime network newswriter Mervin Block doesn't just watch and hear evening newscasts; he listens. Block, who wrote for Walter Cronkite and other...

Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame

by Ty Burr

WITH 8 PAGES OF BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS

How—and why—do we obsess over movie stars? How does fame both reflect and mask the person behind it? How have the image of stardom and our stars’ images altered...

She

by Saul Williams

Hailed as "a dreadlocked dervish of words...the Bob Marley of American poets" (Esquire), Saul Williams is a gifted young poet who is opening up this literary art form to a new generation of readers. Like his...

Voices of Resistance: Communication and Social Change

by Mohan J. Dutta

This book re-presents voices of resistance from across the globe to document the communicative processes, practices, and frameworks through which neoliberal global policies are currently being defied. Based...

Tick... Tick... Tick...

by David Blum

An insider's view of the most successful show in the history of TV, 60 Minutes.

The most popular TV show in America isn't American Idol, and it's not Survivor. Month in, month out, the most–watched program...

Tricks Journalists Play: How the Truth is Massaged, Distorted, Glamorized and Glossed Over

by Dennis Barker

Dennis Barker has written a hard-hitting expose of the erosion of standards and values in the media world of newspapers, TV and radio over the past twenty years, in particular those of integrity, independence...

The Media Ecosystem: What Ecology Can Teach Us about Responsible Media Practice

by Antonio Lopez

In The Media Ecosystem, Antonio Lopez draws together the seemingly disparate realms of ecology and media studies to present a fresh and provocative interpretation of the current state of the mass media—and...

The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network

by Katherine Losse

Kate Losse was a grad school refugee when she joined Facebook as employee #51 in 2005. Hired to answer user questions such as “What is a poke?” and “Why can’t I access my ex-girlfriend’s profile?”...