Product Description: Cities in Stress represents a significant departure from previous research on urban decline and restructuring. Challenging conventional wisdom from both left and right, and including a chapter on Britain, the contributors to this volume seek to advance our theoretical understanding of the nature, dynamics and significance of the urban crisis...read more

Product Description: The Decline of Urban Politics is a lucidly written discussion of the transformation in local politics in the US since the 1950s. Gottdiener argues that local politics has become increasingly concerned with managing the quality of local life...read more

Product Description: Representing a major contribution to the field, authors Mark Gottdiener and Ray Hutchison present their breakthrough text in a new third edition, now completely revised and streamlined to provide students with a solid grounding on the topic...read more

Product Description: This book is a systematic treatment of semiotics from the perspective of postmodernism. It not only develops an important theory of the role of symbols in postmodern culture, but aims to help the reader to analyze contemporary society by providing a series of case studies that apply theory to everyday life...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: This book explores the nature of social change since the 1960s as reflected in the “theming” of America—from Graceland to Dollywood, from Las Vegas to Disneyworld, from the Mall of America to your local mall. Nowhere can modern Americans escape the profusion of recognizable symbols and signs attached to virtually all aspects of our culture, constantly reminding us that we are on familiar and comforting ground...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Most writing about Las Vegas focuses on the spectacular story of casino gambling and tourism. This book is different. Written by two renowned urban studies scholars and a local Las Vegas journalist, combining scholarly research with investigative reporting First academic book to provide a synthesis on the recent growth of Las Vegas Appropriate for courses in urban studies, economic development and tourism, communities and cultural studies ...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: This book is not just about air travel. It is about the emergent social world of flying. It concerns air space and behavior in the air the way someone else might look at cities and street behavior. Economic, political, and cultural aspects are all considered...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: From Graceland to Dollywood, from Las Vegas to Disneyworld, this book explores the origins, nature, and future of themed environments in information-overloaded America.. The Theming of America explores the nature of social change in America since the 1960sfrom Graceland to Dollywood, from Las Vegas to Disneyworld, from the Mall of America to your local mall...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Semiotics, the study of the sign systems that constitute human culture, has since its discovery in the late 19th century and early 20th century, transformed the ways in which we think about culture and communication. It has opened new areas of study and made fruitful connections between established disciplines...read more