From Hank Williams to hip hop, Aunt Jemima to the Energizer Bunny, scrapbooking to NASCAR racing, this volume - edited by a pioneer in the field - invites readers to reflect on a sampling of modern myths, icons, archetypes, and rituals. Ray B. Browne has mined both scholarly and mainstream media to bring together penetrating essays on fads and fashions, sports fandom, the shaping of body image, the marketing of food, vacationing and sightseeing, toys and games, genre fiction, post-9/11 entertainment, and much more. Like Jack Nachbar and Kevin Lause's earlier Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, this book opens critical doors into the study of popular culture.