The Essential Sopranos Reader (Essential Reader Contemporary Media and Culture) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813130123 ISBN 13: 9780813130125

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2011

Synopsis

The Sopranos is recognized as the most successful cable series in the history of television. The Washington Post has called the popular series, winner of twenty-one Emmys and five Golden Globes, "the television landmark that leaves other landmarks in the dust." In every aspect―narrative structure, visual artistry, writing, intertextuality, ensemble acting, controversial themes, dark humor, and unflinching examinations of American life―The Sopranos has had few equals.

Offering a definitive final assessment of the series, The Essential Sopranos Reader aims to comprehensively examine the show's themes and enduring cultural significance. Gender and ethnicity, the role of dreams, the rebirth of HBO, the series' controversial finale, and other topics come under scrutiny in this highly accessible, engaging collection. The book concludes with an interview with Dominic Chianese, who played Uncle Junior in all six seasons of the show.

About this title

About the Author:

David Lavery, professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University, is the editor of The Essential Cult TV Reader. He lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Douglas L. Howard, assistant academic chair and associate professor in the English Department at Suffolk County Community College, is the editor of Dexter: Investigating Cutting Edge Television. He lives in Plainview, New York.
Paul Levinson, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, is the award-winning author of five science fiction novels as well as ten books on new media. He lives in White Plains, New York.

Review:

"The Essential Sopranos Reader shines on many levels, and should crossover to a broad readership. The overall quality and scope, style and depth of this volume will further enhance the disctinction of the Essential Readers in Contemporary Media and Culture Studies at the University Press of Kentucky."―George Plasketes, author of B-Sides, Undercurrents and Overtones: Peripheries to Popular Music, 1960 to the Present"

"This is the first major academic exploration of the series, and it is must reading for both fans and scholars of 'The Sopranos.'" ―King Features Syndicate"

"'The Essential Sopranos Reader' explores the series' themes, its legacy, its unforgettable characters and how its writers and producers handled some of the most controversial subject metter ever seen on American TV."―Farmville Herald"

"The collection bows out with an entertaining and sometimes insightful excerpt

from an interview with Sopranos actor Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior), which

Levinson and Lavery moderated, and a list of the cast and their respective roles on the

series, an episode guide, and an extensive catalogue of the sixth season's intertextual

references and allusions"―Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television"―

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0813130123
• ISBN 13: 9780813130125
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 404
• Editor: Lavery David, Howard Douglas L., Levinson Paul