"Cultural Sociology in Practice is a shockingly good book. Edles achieves the almost impossible task, a highly accessible book for students that provides a powerful and sophisticated disciplinary statement for their teachers. This is a wide-ranging survey of the vast and surging new field of cultural sociology. It is also a deep and penetrating theoretical and methodological argument in its ... Read moreown right. Moreover, Edles does not just write about the work of others; she provides numerous and compact cultural-sociological studies of her own. Filled with wisdom, fairness, and creativity, this is one of the very best statements of cultural sociology ever written." Jeffrey Alexander, University of California at Los Angeles "Cultural Sociology in Practice brightly illuminates the practices of studying culture in all of its forms for readers seeking a map of the field. Laura Desfor Edles writes intelligent, critical, and lucid prose as she explores the specifically sociological chartings of such cultural phenomena as religion, race, and the mass media. An eminently useful survey." Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Swarthmore College Show Less