Beth Johnson

Creator of television series such as Shameless, Clocking Off, State of Play, Reckless, Linda Green and Children’s Ward, Paul Abbott is a British 'showrunner' and writer whose name and reputation for edgy, intelligent, successful and socio-political programmes holds significant weight both in the contemporary television industry and with the public. This is the first book-length academic study of the television programmes created, written by, and/or executive-produced, by Abbott. It is also the first academic study to attempt to consider his complete oeuvre. Within a broadly chronological structure this book elucidates, decodes and evaluates key examples of Abbott’s output, exhibiting a vital evaluation of Abbott’s work over the past three decades and assessing his contribution to British television. Engaging with thematic and ideological notions of the personal, the autobiographical, the honest, the shameless, the pleasurable and the painful recourse of the specificity of ‘ordinary life’, the volume seeks to combine close textual analysis of Abbott’s work with archival research and specially commissioned interviews with Abbott and other important industry practitioners.

Paul Abbott

R. Kent Smith

Carole Mohr

This instructor's edition of a vocabulary textbook for college students, who read at the fifth to eighth grade level, features 25 chapters and teaches 250 basic words. The first and third chapters in each unit contain word-part practices. The second and fourth chapters in each unit contain synonym-antonym practices. The book's last chapter in each unit contains an analogy practice, review, and test. Also included is an answer key, a section on dictionary use, and a word list. The student edition is identical to the instructor's edition except that answers are not provided. (CR)

Groundwork for a Better Vocabulary

John Langan

In the words of the text's best-selling author, John Langan, "Grammar books can be really dull. But they don't have to be. "English Essentials is a new text that makes grammar, punctuation, and usage interesting--with pictures, stories, and activities students will enjoy." The affordable price, ease of use, and simple, familiar language distinguish this engaging text from others on the market.

What Every College Student Needs to Know about Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage

English Essentials

James Aston

Basil Glynn

Since the 1990s, the screening of sex on American, British and Asian television screens has become increasingly prolific. Considering not only the specificities of selected sexualised images in relation to popular series, this study also concerns itself with the ramifications of TV sex as well as discussing the various techniques that are used by TV producers/programme makers to establish the cultural worth of their texts in series such as Shameless, The Tudors and True Blood. The contributions draw attention to shifting representations of sex on television away from the authoritarian state and patriarchal order, toward a more democratic form of representation. As a significant and under-represented aspect of contemporary television studies, this is the first full-length academic collection to consider the wide-ranging representations of sex in society on contemporary television.

Analyzing Contemporary Representations

Television, Sex and Society

Barbara Solot

Great Stories of Suspense & Adventure

One of the titles in the Townsend Library.

Three True Stories

Reading Changed My Life

Nick Bentley

Andrzej Zieleniec

This collection explores the representation, articulation and construction of youth subcultures in a range of texts and contexts. It brings together scholars working in literary studies, screen studies, sociology and cultural studies whose research interests lie in the aesthetics and cultural politics of youth. It contributes to, and extends, contemporary theoretical perspectives around youth and youth cultures. Contributors examine a range of topics, including ‘bad girl’ fiction of the 1950s, novels by subcultural writers such as Colin MacInnes, Alex Wheatle and Courttia Newland, as well as screen representations of Mods, the 1990s Rave culture, heavy metal, and the Manchester scene. Others explore interventions into subcultural theory with respect to metal, subcultural locations, abjection, graffiti cultures, and the potential of subcultures to resist dominant power frameworks in both historical and contemporary contexts.

Teenage Dreams

Youth Subcultures in Fiction, Film and Other Media

David Forrest

This collection is a wide-ranging exploration of contemporary British television drama and its representations of social class. Through early studio-set plays, soap operas and period drama, the volume demonstrates how class provides a bridge across multiple genres and traditions of television drama. The authors trace this thematic emphasis into the present day, offering fascinating new insights into the national conversation around class and identity in Britain today. The chapters engage with a range of topics including authorial explorations of Stephen Poliakoff and Jimmy McGovern, case studies of television performers Maxine Peake and Jimmy Nail, and discussions of the sitcom genre and animation form. This book offers new perspectives on popular British television shows such as Goodnight Sweetheart and Footballers’ Wives, and analysis of more recent series such as Peaky Blinders and This is England.

Social Class and Television Drama in Contemporary Britain

Profiles twenty young men and women of a variety of ethnic backgrounds whose courage and determination have helped them overcome such obstacles as poverty, racism, abuse, neglect, illness, and drugs.

Everyday Heroes

"'Abuse' is an ugly word. And to many people, abuse is an ugly reality of life. This book tells the stories of two men and two women whose lives have been painfully marked by abuse. As a child, Kenyon was beaten first by his mother, later by his father and stepmother. Dawn grew up surrounded by abusive people, then married a violent man. Ryan's stepfather terrorized his entire family, physically and emotionally. Eunice was only a child when an adult relative targeted her for sexual abuse. The things that Kenyon, Dawn, Ryan, and Eunice experienced could have destroyed them inside. But that's not what happened. Read Surviving Abuse to learn how people can grow strong and healthy even after suffering at the hands of others."--Back cover.

Four True Stories

Surviving Abuse

Focuses upon contemporary expressions and representations of televisual sex, discussing British, US and Asian television, to engage with ideas of gender, genre and dramatic politics.

Beth Johnson

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