This successful introductory textbook simultaneously develops advanced skills in reading texts and the ability to think in sophisticated ways about the defining concepts of contemporary English Studies. Fully revised and updated, the second edition now also includes new sections on 'English Language' and 'Creative Writing'.

Love on the Dole (1933), the iconic novel about 1930s British working-class life, has a significant place in British cultural history. Its author, Walter Greenwood, went from unemployed Salford man to best-selling writer, and the novel has never been out of print. The 1935 stage adaptation was said to have been seen by three million people by 1940, including the King and Queen. Greenwood proposed a film adaption in 1936, but the story was pronounced too `sordid' and depressing' by the British Board of Film Censors. However, in 1940 the Ministry of Information decided that this story of...