Introducing Cultural Studies: Learning through Practice - Tapa dura

What a weird and wonderful book. It is the Ronseal of Cultural Studies Literature; it does what it says on the tin... the ideal textbook for Further Education and first year Higher Education Cultural Studies Students... It is also a brilliant revision and essay writing tool for more advanced learners. It is concise, honest and straightforward in its aims and content and witty in its approach... This does not mean however that its content is ‘dumbed down'. It valiantly manages to retain all the highly academic information required for this area of study and does not shy away from using the appropriate terminology and language that Cultural Studies students must familiarise themselves with. The ‘Oversimplification Warnings’, ‘Practice Exercises’, illustrations and ‘Notes’ act as practical or cognitive revision for the body of text rather than as a ‘gutter press’ substitute... this is a highly successful book, in that it has accomplished its intentions, but it is also a motivational book. Its quality and character allow the reader to ‘feel’ the enthusiasm of its author which in turn becomes infectious, instilling in the reader a genuine sense of ebullient perturbation
Art/Design/Media
The Higher Education Authority

It does not attempt to be in any way exhaustive, as it shows a constant awareness of "what's been left out", but, working towards "interpretive independence", it aims to provide students with sufficient notional skills to start doing their own cultural criticism... Like the best cultural studies works, Walton's exhilarating book may leave the student wondering what cultural studies actually is, perhaps undecided about a final definition, but nonetheless confident enough to start practising it
ATLANTIS
Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies

Ideal for courses linked to the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) laid down by the Bologna process that is transforming university education in Europe, epecially as the author shows a constant awareness of teaching in terms of developing students' critical competencies
J. Rubén Valdés Miyares
Universidad de Oviedo

"An outstanding entry level text aimed at those with little or no cultural studies knowledge... Innovative, creative and clever."
- Times Higher Education 

"The ideal textbook for FE and first year HE cultural studies students. Its quality and character allow the reader to ‘feel’ the enthusiasm of its author which in turn becomes infectious, instilling in the reader a genuine sense of ebullient perturbation."
- Art/Design/Media, The Higher Education Authority

An introduction to the practice of cultural studies, this book is ideal for undergraduate courses. Full of practical exercises that will get students thinking and writing about the issues they encounter, this book offers its readers the conceptual tools to practice cultural analysis for themselves. There are heuristics to help students prepare and write projects, and the book provides plenty of examples to help students develop their own ideas.  

Written in a creative, playful and witty style, this book: 

• Links key concepts to the key theorists of cultural studies.
• Includes a wide range of references of popular cultural forms.
• Emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of cultural studies.
• Includes pedagogical features, such as dialogues, graphs, images and recommended readings.
• The book's skills-based approach enables students to develop their creative skills, and shows students how to improve their powers of analysis generally.

To listen to David Walton’s musical response to Adorno's famous essay on jazz, please visit Adorno: Jazz Perennial Fashion . This song accompanies pages 64 to 66 of the book together with a series of questions designed to get readers to evaluate the positive and negative aspects of Adorno's approach.