This full-color, richly illustrated cultural studies reader directly engages the process of reading and writing about the texts one sees in everyday life. Using the lenses of rhetoric, semiotics and cultural studies, students are encouraged to become effective academic writers while gaining deeper insights into such popular culture categories as movies, technology, race, music, ethnicity, television, media, public space, and more.  Just as important, the book teaches students the usefulness of actively reading their surroundings.