'Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright's Practices of Looking is unquestionably the best introduction to the subject to have appeared in over a decade, it is a remarkably well-written, lucidly organized, and pedagogically astute book few texts on visual culture in recent memory have been so well conceived and organized as to be suitable for an audience with no background in the subject; Practices of Looking is the exception. It's hard not to seem simply hyperbolic about this book, but the simple fact is this is an extremely fine accomplishment in every possible way.' Donald Preziosi, 2000-2001 Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford
'Textbook writers, lay down your cursors! This is set fair to be a standard undergraduate reference for US 'how to' classes in media and cultural studies. At last we have a wide ranging, supple, historical, and analytic approach to visual culture, full of lively examples generously illustrated, and accessibly written. It is comprehensive, allusive, clear, well thought-out, and a pleasure to read.'
Toby Miller, Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University
'This is a great book and I think it will be very useful to those teaching visual communication (and visual culture) courses.'
Professor Sandra Moriarty, Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado
'This volume is a comprehensive and compelling introduction to the wide body of critical thought that is now being combined under the banner of visual culture.'
Nicholas Mirzoeff, Department of Art, SUNY at Stony Brook
'This strikes me as an excellent book. It is one of those rare texts that is extremely clear, introductory but not pedestrian; it flows so easily that is seems like it must have been a pleasure for the authors to write.'
Professor Amelia Jones, Department of Art History, University of California, Riverside
'Practices of Looking explains contemporary theoretical debates in a lucid and highly engaging way. The numerous examples of visual culture from advertising, art, and various other media give the text a variety, liveliness and contemporary relevance that students will engage with the authors are to be congratulated for an intelligent, clearly written, and engaging introductory text.'
Heather Dawkins, School of the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University
'Its strongest qualities are its timeliness as an introductory text in the field, its facility with each of the image practices it engages - from advertising to television, from cinema to a range of computer images - and its presentation of sophisticated methodologies and problems in an accessible manner. I was particularly impressed with its incorporation of current theoretical debates that have not been as well integrated in discussions of visual culture to date. I think the text's conceptualization, thoroughness, perspective, interdiscipinarity, clear writing and willingness to argue (rather than merely to summarize) makes it useful in and appropriate to many US undergraduate contexts.'
Patricia White, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies, Swarthmore College
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