Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is a book about how to read visual images: from fine art to photography, film, television and new media. It explores how meaning is communicated by the wide variety of texts that inhabit our increasingly visual world. But, rather than simply providing set meanings to individual images, Visual Culture teaches readers how to interpret visual texts with their own eyes.

While the first part of the book takes readers through differing theoretical approaches to visual analysis, the second part shifts to a medium-based analysis, connected by an underlying theme about the complex relationship between visual culture and reality. Howells and Negreiros draw together seemingly diverse methodologies, while ultimately arguing for a polysemic approach to visual analysis.

The third edition of this popular book contains over fifty illustrations, for the first time in colour. Included in the revised text is a new section on images of power, fear and seduction, a new segment on video games, as well as fresh material on taste and judgement. This timely edition also offers a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

Written in a clear, lively and engaging style, Visual Culture continues to be an ideal introduction for students taking courses in visual culture and communications in a range of disciplines, including media and cultural studies, sociology, and art and design.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Illustrations (p. vii)
• Preface to the Third Edition (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part I Theory
• 1 Iconology (p. 11)
• 2 Form (p. 35)
• 3 Art History (p. 62)
• 4 Ideology (p. 87)
• 5 Semiotics (p. 122)
• 6 Hermeneutics (p. 147)
• Part II Media
• 7 Fine Art (p. 167)
• 8 Photography (p. 193)
• 9 Film (p. 218)
• 10 Television (p. 247)
• 11 New Media (p. 273)
• Conclusion (p. 309)
• Glossary (p. 310)
• Notes (p. 316)
• Bibliography (p. 345)
• Index (p. 358)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Knowing how to read visual images, from social media to fine art, has become an increasingly valuable skill permitting those who possess it to derive meaning from what they view. In this third edition of Visual Culture, Howells (King's College, UK) and Negreiros, his former student, have continued their exploration of how to increase college and university students' visual literacy and how visual culture affects meaning. The book is organized into two parts, one exploring theory, the other media. The theory section covers iconology, form, art history, ideology, semiotics, and hermeneutics, while the media part examines fine art, photography, film, television, and new media. The authors have worked diligently to keep their work current, which is difficult in a field where ongoing change seems the norm. That being said, the study's central ideas remain remarkably constant, suggesting the complex relationship between visual culture and reality is ideally suited for their polysemic approach to visual analysis. Including over 50 black-and-white and color illustrations, this volume contains new sections on video games and images of power, fear, and seduction, as well as fresh material exploring subjective matters such as taste and judgement. Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Stephen T. Schroth, Towson University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Richard Howells is Professor of Cultural Sociology at King's College London.

Joaquim Negreiros is a former lecturer and post-doctoral researcher at ESCS, ISCTE and other Portuguese higher education institutions, and now teaches at CSM, Lisbon.