Packed full of useful pointers

Crime, Culture and the Media

Author: Eamonn Carrabine

Edition: First

Publisher: Polity Press

Pages: 300

Price: £50.00 and £15.99

ISBN 9780745634654 and 4661

Crime, Culture and the Media does what it says on the tin. It is straight to the point, and it gives a clear, concise view of all the relevant points regarding crime, culture and the media.

The study of crime is relevant to many university courses, including psychology, criminology, sociology and media studies, and this book presents points useful for all these subjects.

Helpful subtitles mean that valuable information is not hidden in the text, and areas of interest are covered in detail. There are many apposite quotes from scholars, which provide insight into the book's subject, and there are comprehensive references to all of these scholars and their works.

The book also uses contemporary media, referring to popular websites such as YouTube and Google, as well as the television series The X Files and films such as Seven, all of which would engage a typical student more than using examples or quotes from long-dead philosophers.

Although full of good points, this textbook lacks some attributes that may help those writing essays or interest those who may read it for an overview of crime and the media.

It would have been useful to have a summary of each chapter listing its main points and the main viewpoints of scholars. The book also lacks test questions at the end of each section, which would give those who are serious about studying one of the courses suggested above a chance to test themselves on what they have read and remembered. This would be useful for those taking an exam in the subject matter.

Most modern textbooks about crime seem to include useful information for essay writing, which this volume seems to lack. However, the author may well have come to the conclusion that those reading this book would already know how to structure and write an essay. This might be the case, but nevertheless it would still be a useful addition.

In short, this book has great insight into the world of crime and the media, and disseminates this knowledge in an easy-to-read form that would appeal to students interested in this topic everywhere.

Who is it for? This book is for university students of any level because it is so easy to understand and useful.

Presentation: This is fairly standard, but would benefit from a clearer division of subject matter.

Would you recommend it? I would recommend this to all students studying a social science with a crime, culture or media module.