Blockbusters and Trade Wars: Popular Culture in a Globalized World

Geoffrey Harder is a public services librarian and manager, Knowledge Common, in the Science and Technology Library of the University of Alberta.

It is difficult to say how widespread the awareness of media
concentration and influence is among the general population. Reality TV,
pop rock, great cinematic works, and other cultural products are
created, produced, and manufactured daily, heavily influencing the way
we see and understand our society, social order, and responsibility as
members of a global community. Like tour guides, Grant and Wood use
Blockbusters and Trade Wars to steer us through the maze of cultural
products and influences—the protective policies of national bodies and
the forces of free markets—to better understand the who, why, and what
of culture in our time.

The book dissects movie, television, music, and other cultural
industries in such a way that even those with little knowledge or
forethought of the subject will feel compelled to read further.
Well-researched, well-footnoted, and supplemented with suggestions for
further reading, the book escapes the heaviness of a purely academic
read and brings a great deal of Canadian content and perspective—too
often missing from other popular works of this nature—to the
discussion. Media concentration, competition, and content quota
scheduling are but a few of the fascinating areas touched on that will
leave readers with a fresh perspective on the cultural world around
them.