Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary

Keywords for Today takes us deep into the history of the language in order to better understand our contemporary world. From nature to cultural appropriation and from market to terror, the most important words in political and cultural debate have complicated and complex histories. This book sketches these histories in ways that illuminate the political bent and values of our current society. Written by The Keywords Project, an independent group of scholars who have spent more than a decade on this work, Keywords for Today updates and extends Raymond Williams's classic work, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. It updates some 40 of Williams's original entries and adds 86 new entries, ranging from access to youth. The book is both a history of English, documenting important semantic change in the language, and a handbook of current political and ideological debate. Whether it is demonstrating the only recently-acquired religious meaning of fundamentalism or the
complicated linguistic history of queer, Keywords for Today will intrigue and enlighten.


Author: The Keywords Project
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/01/2018
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.92lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780190636579


Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2019

About the Author

The Keywords Project is an independent group of scholars who, with the support of the University of Pittsburgh, Jesus College, Cambridge, and the academic journal Critical Quarterly, have spent more than a decade preparing Keywords for Today.

Colin MacCabe is Distinguished Professor of English and Film at the University of Pittsburgh. He taught the history of modern and Early Modern English at Cambridge and Strathclyde universities before becoming Head of Production at the British Film Institute in 1985. Since then he has combined literary criticism and film production.

Holly Yanacek is Assistant Professor of German in the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at James Madison University. Her research focuses on 19th century and 20th century German literature, emotion studies, narrative theory, moral philosophy, and cultural studies.