-Accessible text on a variety of contexts for public engagement of science that may interest and inform both scientists and communication and media scholars -Works as a supplemental text for science communication courses and media communication courses, and will be of interest to individual readers in the sciences and general readers -Has the most comprehensive non-technical coverage of these timely issues, including new media forms such as social media and children's entertainment

-Accessible text on a variety of contexts for public engagement of science that may interest and inform both scientists and communication and media scholars -Works as a supplemental text for science communication courses and media communication courses, and will be of interest to individual readers in the sciences and general readers -Has the most comprehensive non-technical coverage of these timely issues, including new media forms such as social media and children's entertainment

In Value War: Public Opinion and the Politics of Gay Rights, Paul R. Brewer looks at how the public debate about gay rights has shaped public opinion and conversely how public opinion has shaped the public debate about gay rights. Using a variety of methods, including polls, experimentation, and content analysis, he shows how the nature of public debate_which encompasses news stories, television sitcoms, presidential speeches, and sermons by local clergy_has influenced what and how Americans think about gay rights. He also shows how public opinion has created opportunities and obstacles for foes and advocates of gay rights by defining the very terms and boundaries of the public debate. Brewer's analysis not only sheds new light on how the politics of gay rights has evolved in recent years and may evolve in the future, it also illuminates the broader tensions in American politics, from the culture war over social issues to the struggle over civil rights.