{"product_id":"the-wire-urban-decay-and-american-television-9780826438041","title":"The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first collection of critical essays on HBOs The Wire - the most brilliant and socially relevant television series in years  The Wire is about survival  about the strategies adopted by those living and working in the inner cities of America. It presents a world where for many even hope isnt an option  where life operates as day-to-day existence without education  without job security  and without social structures. This is a world that is only grey  an exacting autopsy of a side of American life that has never seen the inside of a Starbucks.  Over its five season  sixty-episode run (2002-2008)  The Wire presented several overlapping narrative threads  all set in the city of Baltimore. The series consistently deconstructed the conventional narratives of law  order  and disorder  offering a view of America that has never before been admitted to the public discourse of the televisual. It was bleak and at times excruciating. Even when the show made metatextual reference to its own world as Dickensian  it was too gentle by half.  By focusing on four main topics (Crime  Law Enforcement  America  and Television)  The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television examines the series place within popular culture and its representation of the realities of inner city life  social institutions  and politics in contemporary American society. This is a brilliant collection of essays on a show that has taken the art of television drama to new heights.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647896838197,"sku":"ByrdShop_0826438040","price":22.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780826438041.jpg?v=1781699392","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-wire-urban-decay-and-american-television-9780826438041","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}