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Programming Our Lives Television and American Identity

Walter Cummins, George Gordon

Book Code: C9020

ISBN: 0-275-99020-6

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99020-6

DOI:

240 pages, n/a

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 6/30/2006

List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £27.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

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Reviews:

Television has become such an everyday presence in contemporary America that most people take it for granted, rarely considering the role it has played in the ways society has changed in the past 60 years, according to Cummins and Gordon, a management consultant. They investigate television's impact on American news media, politics, and education; on attitudes toward law, crime, medicine, and sports; and on social interaction and perceptions. By shedding light on television's influence and suggesting ways to be more sophisticated viewers, the authors aim to encourage readers to be more effective parents, consumers, voters, and citizens.
—Reference & Research Book News November 2006

Endorsement From John F. Short
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Opinion Research Corporation: Programming Our Lives is right on the mark with the enormous impact television has had on our culture. From what we consider appropriate to how we cope with our illnesses, this book opens our eyes to the myriad ways in which TV has affected us all. As you read through the book, you can't help but muse about what our lives would be like if television had never been invented, and some of your answers will probably come as a big surprise. Cummins and Gordon have created a timely and insightful winner.

Description: In this timely examination of television and American identity, Cummins and Gordon take readers on an informed walk through the changes that TV has already wrought-and those still likely to confront us.
Commercial television in America is less than 60 years old, yet it has had an enormous impact on what we like, what we do, what we know, and how we think. A family transplanted from the 1940s to the present day would certainly be stunned by a fundamentally different world: instead of gathering in the living room for a shared evening of radio, they would be scattered around the house to indulge their individual interests on one of a hundred cable channels; instead of a society with rigid racial and ethnic divisions, they would see people of different ethnicities in passionate embraces; and certainly they would see a very different set of values reflected across the board. They would, in sum, find themselves in an unrecognizable America, one both reflected in and shaped by television, a medium that has been shown to have an unprecedented influence on our lives both for better and for worse. By focusing on the development of television within the cultural context that surrounds it, and drawing on such phenomena as quiz shows, comedy hours, the Kennedy assassination, the Olympics, sitcoms, presidential ads, political debates, MTV, embedded journalism, and reality TV, the authors reveal television's impact on essential characteristics of American life. They cover topics as diverse as politics, crime, medicine, sports, our perceptions, our values, our assumptions about privacy, and our unquenchable need for more "things." In addition, they consider the future of the medium in the light of the proliferation of programming options, the prevalence of cameras and receivers in our lives, the growing links between TV and computers, and the crossed boundaries of television throughout the world.

LC Card Number: 2006008232

LCC Class: PN1992

Dewey Class: 302

PDF Catalogs:
Pop Culture Spring 2008.pdf


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