Students are bombarded every day with media messages laden with rules: how true patriots should act, how healthy people eat, what real women should look like. "Acting Out Culture" is the first thematic composition reader to focus students' attention beyond what rules and norms govern their everyday behavior to "how" the rules themselves have been shaped over time. The author, James Miller, has drawn on his cutting-edge expertise in cultural analysis to help students inquire into those social norms and respond with writing that positions them as citizens making informed decisions about their world.