Understanding Richard Hoggart: A Pedagogy of Hope - Hardcover

"This is an engaging, informative and combative work. It is exactly what it says, a ?critical introduction? that moves way beyond plain description of Hoggart?s life and works, showing the relevance (but also, sometimes, the limitations) of his work and constantly contextualizing it within debates in both Cultural Studies and the wider political field. It is extremely well rooted in the various relevant literatures but also adds much knowledge from new sources, particularly those contained in the Hoggart Archive. In every sense, it is a good advert for, and defence of, studying the Humanities." - Dave Russell, Leeds Metropolitan University ?A fascinating and insightful analysis of a leading public intellectual, obsessive auto-biographer, founder of a new academic discipline and original cultural critic.? - James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London ?The authors of Understanding Richard Hoggart highlight, with rigor and respect, the continuing relevance of Hoggart's work to anyone with an interest in how the cultural landscape at once shapes, and is shaped by, our individual habits." - Lynsey Hanley, journalist and author of 'Estates: an Intimate History'

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 Studies * Uses new archival sources to critically evaluate Hoggart's contribution and influence, set his work in context, and determine its current relevance * Addresses detractors and their positions of Hoggart, delineating long-term ideological battles within academia * Brings 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