Works from members of the radical teacher collective.

Based on Pepi Leistyna's forthcoming book, Class Dismissed is a documentary navigating the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows. Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people, stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. For further information, email [e-mail]; to order, call 800-897-0089.

In The Ellis Island Snow Globe, Erica Rand, author of Barbie's Queer Accessories, takes readers on an unconventional tour of Ellis Island, the migration station turned heritage museum, and its neighbor, the Statue of Liberty. By pausing to reflect on what is and is not on display at these two iconic national monuments, Rand focuses attention on whose heritage is being honored and whose obscured. She also reveals the shifting connections between sex, money, material products, and ideas of the nation. In her book, Rand synthesizes numerous diverse ideas about tourism immigration history, sexuality, race, ethnicity, commodity culture, and global capitalism.

American Identities: An Introduction Textbook, co-edited by Lois Rudnick, Judith Smith, and Rachel Ruben, is an innovative interdisciplinary reader in U. S. history and culture geared to high school seniors and beginning college students. The book provides students with primary and secondary source readings in music, literature, and history that examine the trajectory of the U.S. since World War II. (Blackwell Publishing, September, 2005).

Project Look Sharp at Ithaca College has released the third in a series of nationally distributed curriculum kits, "Media Construction of the Middle East," which can be accessed at www.projectsharp.org, where a CD/DVD version can be requested at no charge. "Media Construction of the Middle East" includes materials to actively engage students in developing a critical understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the War in Iraq, and the rise of militant Islamic movements. Students also learn to analyze and decode media messages in the various forms of websites, film dips, TV news, magazines, newspapers, and school textbooks.