"Bringing these writings together for the first time, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi provides one of the most gripping accounts of the Iraqi conflict."--Jacket.

Blogging has profoundly influenced not only the nature of the internet today, but also the nature of modern communication, despite being a genre invented less than a decade ago. This book-length study of a now everyday phenomenon provides a close look at blogging while placing it in a historical, theoretical and contemporary context. Scholars, students and bloggers will find a lively survey of blogging that contextualises blogs in terms of critical theory and the history of digital media. Authored by a scholar-blogger, the book is packed with examples that show how blogging and related genres are changing media and communication. It gives definitions and explains how blogs work, shows how blogs relate to the historical development of publishing and communication and looks at the ways blogs structure social networks and at how social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook incorporate blogging in their design. Specific kinds of blogs discussed include political blogs, citizen journalism, confessional blogs and commercial blogs.

In 1927, political scientist Harold Lasswell wrote about the strategies employed by the American government to sell the benefits of participating in World War I to a reluctant public. In Propaganda Techniques in World War I, Lasswell discussed the "manipulative symbols to manipulate opinions and attitudes" (p 9). Ever since then, all wars have involved specialists who attempt to control the way the media report about war and the way media contribute to shaping public opinion. This collection of essays discusses how media have "packaged" the war in Iraq. The chapters in this collection explore the way the media have presented the war to us by telling us human interest stories, supporting public policies, and crafting a narrative that supports the war. Some chapters focus on the way the Bush administration has actively promoted and attempted to control information; others tell of how the media have either been complicit in supporting the dominant narrative, or how the public has used the images in the media to negotiate attitudes toward the war, terrorism, and international relations. All of the chapters discuss the relationships among conflict, political agendas, the power of media, and the way audiences use media to construct attitudes, beliefs, and--ultimately--a sense of history about the war. Coming from the perspective of communication studies, situates the multi-dimensional aspects of war, terrorism, public policy, media, and story-telling within the context of creating a consensually assembled image of what the war in Iraq is all about. This book will be of interest to undergraduate students as well as scholars of communication, history, sociology, political science, and American studies, and it will be an excellent resource both for classroom use as well as the general public.

Packed with case studies drawn from around the world, The internet presents a clear and up-to-date introduction to the social, cultural, technological and political worlds this new media form is creating.

The Advocate is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) monthly newsmagazine. Established in 1967, it is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.

Provides an accessible study of blogging and places it in a historical, theoretical and contemporary context. Jill Walker Rettberg discusses the ways blogs are integrated into the mainstream social media ecology, where comments and links from Twitter and Facebook may be more important than the network between blogs that was significant five years ago, and questions the shift towards increased commercialization and corporate control of blogs. The book also analyses how smartphones with cameras and social media have led a shift towards more visual emphasis in blogs. The book is packed with examples that show how blogging and related genres are changing media and communication.--

These essays of Mansoor Palloor aim at the sharp and flagrant disclosure of the brutal atrocities committed by imperialistic forces on the human race and the blatant violation of basic human rights. Those who derive boundless sadistic pleasure in the unbearable stench of burnt human flesh and blood and who consider the woeful cries of pain and misery of children with dismembered bodies and their mentally ailing mothers, as sweet music to their ears, are definitely at full liberty to disagree with his views. The articles in this book, which throw light on international trends since the year 2001, impeccably forecast and predict global events like the Middle East conflicts and wars, the rise of the Internet community and its far-reaching impact in shaping the future, the economic collapse of America, the fall of capitalism, and the recent political developments and unrest in the Middle East.