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With the resurgent interest in his work today, this is a timely reevaluation of this foundational figure in Cultural Studies, a critical but friendly review of both Hoggart's work and reputation. * Reexamines the reputation of one of the 'inventors' of Cultural Studies * Uses new archival sources to critically evaluate Hoggart's contribution and influence, set his work in context, and determine its current relevance * Addresses detractors and their positions of Hoggart, delineating long-term ideological battles within academia * Brings cultural studies, literary criticism, and social history to bear on this figure whose interests spread across disciplines, to create a text which blends many threads into a coherent whole

Richard Hoggart is regarded as one of the 'inventors' of Cultural Studies. His work traversed academic and social boundaries. With the resurgent interest in his work today, this is a timely reevaluation of this foundational figure in Cultural Studies, a critical but friendly review of both Hoggart's work and reputation. The authors use new archival sources to reevaluate Hoggart's intellectual and ethical influence, arguing that most attacks on his positions have been misplaced and even malevolent, and urging his importance for today's world. Chapters address Hoggart's contradictory and restless relationship with academic history; his uneasy but fruitful relationship with the idea of the 'working-class intellectual'; his engagement with policy related work inside and outside the academy; his adaptation of methods of literary analysis and the political implications of his own style; and the politics of autobiography.