Linda Holtzman, Professor Emeritus at Webster University, has been a leader in media and diversity program development and teaching for 25 years. A weekly guest on the St Louis NBC affiliate, she has reviewed diversity messages in film and television and received grants for her work in the U.S., Israel and Palestine; analyzing media misinformation, stereotypes, and human rights activism. She serves as an anti-racism facilitator for local and national organizations and school districts and has received numerous awards for her work, including the Martin Luther King Award presented personally by Coretta Scott King.Leon Sharpe is an adjunct professor at the Webster University School of Communications where he teaches courses that examine the role of film and other media in establishing and reinforcing patterns of social power. He is also founder and principal of The Praxis Group, a strategic consulting firm that specializes in building organizational capacity, developing effective leaders, training high-performance teams, leveraging workforce diversity, and managing institutional change. He has successfully designed and implemented employee efficacy and process improvement programs for a broad range of corporations, universities, school districts, government agencies, charitable foundations, social service providers, and community-based groups.Joseph Farand Gardner, also know as J. Owl Farand, is a writer and Black Media Analyst for Owl’s Asylum and operates the design agency J. Farand, LLC. Mr Gardner attended Ranken technical College in St. Louis where he obtained an Associates Degree of Science in Web Development and graduated from St. Louis’ Webster University, earning a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Media Communications and serving as a Research Assistant to Professor Linda Holtzman.

• 1. The Connections: Life, Knowledge, and MediaPersonal ExperienceReconstructing KnowledgeThe Process of SocializationEntertainment MediaChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsReflection, Summary, and AnalysisBibliography2. Gender: In Pink and Blue and Vivid ColorPersonal Experience and GenderReconstructing Knowledge and GenderGender and Entertainment MediaThe Complexity of Gender TargetingGender Diversity and Social PowerChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsReflection, Summary, and AnalysisBibliography3. Is the United States a Classless Society?Personal Experience and ClassReconstructing Knowledge and ClassEarly U.S. HistoryThe Twentieth CenturyThe Twenty-First CenturyEntertainment Media and ClassChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsReflection, Summary, and AnalysisBibliography4. Racing in America: Fact or Fiction?Linda's StoryLeon's StoryMeeting at the Crossroads: How Our Stories ConvergeThe American Racial Discourse: Then and NowReconstructing Knowledge and RaceStories of Race, Racism, and Resistance in the United StatesChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsReflection, Summary, and AnalysisBibliography5. Stories of Race in Popular CultureEntertainment Media and RaceAmerican Indians in Entertainment MediaAsians and Pacific Islanders in Entertainment MediaLatinas/Latinos in Entertainment MediaAfrican Americans in Entertainment MediaChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsBibliography6. Sexual Orientation and the Fabrication of "Normal"Personal ExperienceReconstructing Knowledge and Sexual OrientationTerminology and Its EvolutionTheories and History of Sexual Orientation in the United StatesSexual Orientation in U.S. HistoryReligion and Sexual OrientationSummary of Reconstructing KnowledgeSexual Orientation and Entertainment MediaChapter SummaryGlossary of Key TermsReflection, Summary, and AnalysisBibliography

"Authors Holtzman and Sharpe quote one of their students: 'Humanity is our basic understanding; compartmentalizing people is something that's taught.' Then, through a thoughtful blend of textual interpretation, self-reflection, social science theory, and cultural analysis, they produce a wonderfully written critique of film, television, and popular music in our time of controversial new laws that open the door to legal discrimination under the guise of standing your ground, eliminating voter fraud, or protecting certain religious beliefs. While not a media literacy book per se, Media Messages encourages readers through examples, evidence, and exercises to think critically about media's--and our own--contributions to how we construct our realities of gender, class, race, and sexual orientation." -- Stanley Baran, Professor and Chair, Department of Communication, Bryant University"The second edition of Media Messages is a welcome update to the groundbreaking original. Holtzman and Sharpe's readings of Hollywood movies and popular television shows help the reader understand the pervasiveness of class differences in American culture and make visible the many fault lines that crisscross our society." -- Louis Alvarez, Director of People Like Us: Social Class in America (PBS)"Holtzman provides a comprehensive survey of the major issues framing the ongoing debate regarding the social and cultural implications of the struggles over identity politics in contemporary media. Her approach appropriately combines ideological readings and a detailed examination of everyday life worlds. An important contribution to this evolving literature." -- Hal Himmelstein, Brooklyn College (on the previous edition)"Countless examples from each genre will resonate in some way for every reader, and questionnaires throughout help individuals explore his or her own values, definitions, beliefs, and perspectives. A vast amount of historical and media research is synthesized into thought-provoking and instructive material. Those with an interest in society and the media will find this quite appealing, and it will serve as an excellent text for college-level communications programs." -- Library Journal (on the previous edition)