The Western introduces the novice to the pleasures and the meanings of the Western film, shares the excitement of the genre with the fan, addresses the suspicions of the cynic and develops the knowledge of the student. The Western is about the changing times of the Western, and about how it has been understood in film criticism. Until the 1980s, more Westerns were made than any other type of film. For fifty of those years, the genre was central to Hollywood's popularity and profitability. The Western explores the reasons for its success and its latter-day decline among film-makers and audiences alike. Part I charts the history of the Western film and its role in film studies. Part II traces the origins of the Western in nineteenth-century America, and in its literary, theatrical and visual imagining. This sets the scene to explore the many evolving forms in successive chapters on early silent Westerns, the series Western, the epic, the romance, the dystopian, the elegiac and, finally, the revisionist Western. The Western concludes with an extensive bibliography, filmography and select further reading. Over 200 Westerns are discussed, among them close accounts of classics such as Duel in the Sun, The Wild Bunch and Unforgiven, formative titles like John Ford's epic The Iron Horse, and early cowboy star William S. Hart's The Silent One together with less familiar titles that deserve wider recognition, including Comanche Station, Pursued and Ulzana's Raid.

Introducing media criticism as well as teaching about the media, in inter-disciplinary and 'across the curriculum' teaching, this is the first critical reference book on the important curriculum initiatives taking place in media education. The core of the book is a collection of essays on key concepts from media studies, including 'language', 'narrative', 'institution', 'audience', 'representation', and 'the production process'. Written by teachers for teachers, these essays organise ideas through classroom activities, with a full listing of teaching materials , resources, agencies, and publications in media education. Contributors: Tim Blanchard, Gill Branston, David Buckingham, Jenny Grahame, Karen Manzi and Allan Rowe, Ben Moore, Gillian Swanson, Adrian Tilley, and Tana Wollen.

Introducing media criticism as well as teaching about the media, in inter-disciplinary and 'across the curriculum' teaching, this is the first critical reference book on the important curriculum initiatives taking place in media education. The core of the book is a collection of essays on key concepts from media studies, including 'language', 'narrative', 'institution', 'audience', 'representation', and 'the production process'. Written by teachers for teachers, these essays organise ideas through classroom activities, with a full listing of teaching materials , resources, agencies, and publications in media education. Contributors: Tim Blanchard, Gill Branston, David Buckingham, Jenny Grahame, Karen Manzi and Allan Rowe, Ben Moore, Gillian Swanson, Adrian Tilley, and Tana Wollen.

Television studies has come of age as the rapid expansion in media and communications courses shows. The Television Studies Book is a stimulating and challenging collection that analyzes how the study of television has developed and points to new approaches dealing with rapidly changing technologies and formats. Chapters on the history and methods of studying television reflect on such issues as the impact of feminism and the development of ethnographic research while specific case studies on topics as varied as US "people shows," Brazilian telenovelas, and the varied use of video in the home give pointed and vivid accounts of current practices.