For courses in First Year Composition, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, and Semiotics.

The World is a Text is the most visual popular culture reader with the best coverage of writing.

When Jonathan Silverman and Dean Rader commuted together, they often discussed the possibilities and challenges of teaching popular culture and composition.  Not only did they want their students to read diverse texts about popular culture, but also they wanted to equip them to engage with popular culture and with each other directly for the goal of better writing.  The authors also envisioned more purposeful writing instruction in general in a popular culture reader.  Out of those discussions and their own classroom practice came The World is a Text.

This cultural studies reader directly engages the process of reading and writing about the “texts” one sees in everyday life. The semiotic approach focuses on the relationship between reading traditional works–-such as essays and poems–-and other less-traditional ones–-such as movies, technology, race, ethnicity, television and public space. More importantly, the book teaches students the usefulness of learning to read actively their surroundings. The new edition features a greatly expanded section on writing, editing, and making arguments.