Understanding Richard Hoggart

Awarded 2013 PROSE Honorable Mention in Media & Cultural Studies With the resurgent interest in his work today, this is a timely reevaluation of this foundational figure in Cultural Studies, a critical but friendly review of both Hoggart's work and reputation. Re-examines the reputation of one of the ‘inventors’ of Cultural StudiesUses new archival sources to critically evaluate Hoggart's contribution and influence, set his work in context, and determine its current relevanceAddresses detractors and their positions of Hoggart, delineating long-term ideological battles within academiaBrings cultural studies, literary criticism, and social history to bear on this figure whose interests spread across disciplines, to create a text which blends many threads into a coherent whole