One of the tasks for this time of the year is to updated Reading Lists. Happily, this means working through some particualrly strong new titles...
As mentioned before, Exploring PR by Tench and Yeomans (Prentice Hall) is set to be the foundation for most UK PR degrees (I am working on a review for the next Behind the Spin).
Others set to become essential reading are:
- Public Relations: Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice, by Jacquie L'Etang and Magda Pieczka (Laurence Erlbaum)
- Rethinking Public Relations: PR Propaganda and Democracy (2nd ed), by Kevin Moloney (Routledge) (see Richard Bailey's review)
- Public Relations Theory II, by Carl Botan and Vincent Hazleton (Laurence Erlbaum)
- Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy, by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Bronstein (Sage)
Maybe not everybody's idea of beach reading (though I reckon Maloney is a real page-turner) but these are all impressive titles and highly recommended for anyone trying to keep up with developments in the critical undestanding of PR and its impact on the world.
Anything I've missed?
Thanks for the list, I'll add it to my growing one.
Posted by: Andrea weckere | July 26, 2006 at 02:36 PM
You've listed this year's main academic texts (and it has been a good year for these), but have missed the non-academic but accessible 'Where the Truth Lies' edited by Julia Hobsbawm. (At least you could carry this one to the beach, unlike some of the other tomes...)
Posted by: Richard Bailey | July 27, 2006 at 06:38 PM
Hobsbawm is top of my in-tray, Richard - bound for Skye. Thought I'd wait until I had read it before passing judgment...(although I will admit it is already on a couple of my recommended reading lists).
As well as being beach-manageable, Where the Truth Lies, has another great advantage of being vaguely affordable (£7.79 on Amazon) - the list above comes in at around £200.
Posted by: Philip Young | July 27, 2006 at 06:58 PM
Anyone who hasn't read Where the Truth Lies might wish to read my review of it here: http://simoncollister.typepad.com/simonsays/2006/07/book_review_whe.html
Posted by: Simon Collister | August 17, 2006 at 09:03 PM