Television studies has come of age as the rapid expansion in media and communications courses shows. The Television Studies Book is a stimulating and challenging collection which analyses how the study of television has developed and points to new approaches dealing with rapidly changing technologies and formats. Chapters on the history and methods of studying television reflect on such issues as the impact of feminism and the development of ethnographic research while specific case studies on topics as varied as US 'people shows', Brazilian telenovelas and the varied use of video in the home give pointed and vivid accounts of current practices. Specially commissioned chapters by scholars such as Lynn Spigel, Jostein Gripsrud, Gillian Branston and Laura Stempel Murnford provide accessible and concise accounts of the main developments in television studies in a book which will become an important resource for students in higher education who need to relate broad overall accounts to more specialised interests being developed through academic research.
