Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society

(Paperback)

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Raymond Williams seminal exploration of the history of meaning of some of the most important words in the English language.
First published in 1976, and expanded in 1983, KEYWORDS reveals how the meanings of 131 words including art, class, family, media, sex and tradition were formed and subsequently altered and redefined as the historical contexts in which they were used changed.

Neither a defining dictionary or glossary, KEYWORDS is rather a brilliant investigation into how the meanings of some of the most important words in the English language have shifted over time, and the forces that brought about those shifts.

Reviews

A revelatory unpacking of the complicated disputes that lay dormant, as it were within familiar words Guardian

Williamss essential point about the social and political stakes in simple words and phrases is as true today as it was in the 1970s: think of the many battles that have erupted around terms like liberal, torture, pro-life or intelligent design New York Times

This book is an erudite, elegant, and awful warning to anybody tempted to lay down the lexicographical law, in order to apply one authoritative fixed sense to a highly variable and controversial value word The Times

Keywords is useful and stimulating to all who work with words or merely love them Wall Street Journal

The books greatest value, perhaps, is its exemplification of how all of us should respond to the words we hear and use: with surprise, distrust, curiosity, and unflagging vigilance Yale Review

An invaluable book A unique coda to the words of one of our most original and provocative thinkers Harpers

Author Bio

An academic, and the writer of both non-fiction and fiction, Raymond Williams (192188) was one of the most important and influential British thinkers of the twentieth century. Williams wrote about politics, culture, mass media and literature, and his work was key to the development of cultural studies. His best-known books include Culture and Society, The Long Revolution and The Country and the City.