A best-selling book now in it's Seventh Edition, The Contemporary Reader offers highly engaging readings about current cultural issues. This accessible, wide-ranging, and current essay collection is designed to stimulating and thought provoking. The Contemporary Reader has more contemporary selections than any other popular culture reader on the market. Over 90% of the readings have been written in the last five years. The text's ten tightly focused thematic chapters cover a range of writing on interesting issues familiar to students and relevant to our times. Readings are organized around a variety of provocative and engaging themes such as "Fashion and Flesh: The Images We Project"; "Gender Battles on the Big Screen" ; "Young and Criminal"; "Advertising: Wanting It, Selling It."; and these new focused themes: "Humans Inc.: Rethinking and Retailing Reproduction"; "It's a Wide Web World"; "Sports: Not Just a Game"; "Generation Gaps: Boomers, X-ers, and Y." These thematic chapters are tightly focused and offer a range of perspectives on issues. To expand on the well-regarded section on critical reading, a review of the writing process has been added to the introduction. This includes coverage of pre-writing, audience-awareness, developing a thesis, documenting sources, drafting, editing, revising, and proofreading. MARKET For those interested in gaining an understanding of important contemporary issues and the ability to discuss those issues critically.