In this user-friendly dictionary of popular culture, over 800 A-to-Z entries provide historical information, definitions, and brief commentaries about the theories, media forms, fads, celebrities and icons, genres, and commonly-used terms relevant to the study of popular culture. Includes cross-references and a thematic table of contents.

Published widely in the areas of semiotics, media, and linguistics, Danesi is author of Encyclopedia of Media and Communication and a textbook, Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives. He wrote the more than 800 entries in this new dictionary, focusing on mainstream (namely commercialized) aspects of popular culture in the US, past and present. Subjects range from media formats and genres (e.g., baseball cards, anime) to significant influencers of US pop culture (musician Bob Marley, film director Alfred Hitchcock, author J. K. Rowling). Some entries relate to specific products, such as the television show American Idol, or provide concise explications of media-studies terminology, such as high and low culture or infomercial. Included as appendixes are finding aids organizing entries into broad themes (e.g., cartoon characters or textspeak) or various helpful time lines. This compilation is probably most useful for those in introductory-level media studies programs…. Summing Up: Recommended. High school through beginning undergraduate students; general readers.