The new sixth edition of Tomart's Hot Wheels guide is being published in two volumes and is current up to 2008 vehicles available at the time of publication. Volume 1 covers Hot Wheels cars first produced from 1968 through 1996, plus variations of these castings manufactured up to 2008. Volume 2 updates Hot Wheels values and adds information for first edition castings introduced from 1997-2008.

The new sixth edition of Tomart's Hot Wheels guide is being published in two volumes and is current up to 2008 vehicles available at the time of publication. Volume 1 covers Hot Wheels cars first produced from 1968 through 1996, plus variations of these castings manufactured up to 2008. Volume 2 updates Hot Wheels values and adds information for first edition castings introduced from 1997-2008.

Eating junk food and fast food is a great all-American passion. American kids and grownups love their candy bars, Big Macs and supersized fries, Doritos, Twinkies, and Good Humor ice cream bars. The disastrous health effects from the enormous appetite for these processed fat- and sugar-loaded foods are well publicized now. This was particularly dramatically evidenced by Super Size Me (2004), filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's 30-day all-McDonald's diet in which his liver suffered the same poisoning as if he had been on an extended alcohol binge. Through increased globalization, American popular food culture is being increasingly emulated elsewhere in the world, such as China, with the potential for similar disastrous consequences. This A-to-Z reference is the first to focus on the junk food and fast food phenomena from a multitude of angles in addition to health and diet concerns. More than 250 essay entries objectively explore the scope of the topics to illuminate the American way through products, corporations and entrepreneurs, social history, popular culture, organizations, issues, politics, commercialism and consumerism, and much more. Interest in these topics is high. This informative and fascinating work, with entries on current controversies such as mad cow disease and factory farming, the food pyramid, movie tie-ins, and marketing to children, will be highly useful for reports, research, and browsing. It takes readers behind the scenes, examining the significance of such things as uniforms, training, packaging, and franchising. Readers of every age will also enjoy the nostalgia factor, learning about the background of iconic drive-ins, the story behind the mascots, facts about their favorite candy bar, and collectables. Each entry ends with suggested reading. Besides an introduction, a timeline, glossary, bibliography, resource guide, and photos enhance the text. Sample entries: A&W Root Beer; Advertising; Automobiles; Ben & Jerry's; Burger King; Carhops; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Christmas; Cola Wars; Employment; Fair Food; Fast Food Nation; Hershey, Milton; Hollywood; Injury; Krispy Kreme; Lobbying; Nabisco; Obesity; PepsiCo; Salt; Soda Fountain; Teen Hangouts; Vegetarianism; White Castle; Yum! Brands, Inc.

The previously untold story of the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, the world's most romantic and expensive series of portable radios, now in a newly revised & expanded edition. Long a companion of kings, presidents, transoceanic yachtsmen and world explorers, the Trans-Oceanic was also carried into battle by American troops in three wars. Its great popularity in spite of a very high price can be laid at the feet of several generations of armchair travelers who used the shortwave capabilities of the Trans-Oceanic as a window on the world. With access to the Zenith corporate archives and their long experience as radio enthusiasts and writers for both the popular and scholarly press, Professors Bryant and Cones present the engrossing stories of the development and use of the Trans-Oceanic throughout its forty year life. They present a wealth of never-before published photographs, documents and information concerning these fascinating radios, their collection, preservation and restoration.

Showcases and details the rare, popular, forgotten, and beloved figures coveted by fans the world over.

This book addresses Disney parks using performance theory. Few to no scholars have done this to date—an enormous oversight given the Disney parks’ similarities to immersive theatre, interpolation of guests, and dramaturgical construction of attractions. Most scholars and critics deny agency to the tourist in their engagement with the Disney theme park experience. The vast body of research and journalism on the Disney “Imagineers”—the designers and storytellers who construct the park experience—leads to the misconception that these exceptional artists puppeteer every aspect of the guest’s experience. Contrary to this assumption, Disney park guests find a range of possible reading strategies when they enter the space. Certainly Disney presents a primary reading, but generations of critical theory have established the variety of reading strategies that interpreters can employ to read against the text. This volume of twelve essays re-centers the park experience around its protagonist: the tourist.

If you're a collector of the ultra-cool, sensationally sleek and super speedy Hot Wheels, you are in for a treat with Hot Wheels: Forty Years. This big, beautiful coffee table book tells the story of these miniature marvels through more than 600 stunning color photos, and historical details including company history, interviews with Mattel designers, major developments and trends. All the attitude and innovation of these revolutionary pocket-sized racers, Redlines, Blackwalls, Number Pack Vehicles, Protypes and more, is captures in the pages of this must-have reference.

This collection brings together the work of a range of scholars from around the world with different perspectives on one simple question: How can we assess the value of various entertainment products and forms? Entertainment is everywhere. The industries that produce it earn billions of dollars each year and employ hundreds of thousands of people. Its pervasiveness means almost everyone has something to say about entertainment, too, whether it be our opinion on the latest Hollywood blockbuster, a new celebrity couple, or our concerns over its place in the world of politics. And yet, in spite of its significance, entertainment has too-often been dismissed with surprising ease within the academy as a ‘mindless’, ‘lowbrow’ – even ‘dangerous’ – form of culture, and therefore unworthy of serious appraisal (let alone praise). Entertainment Values, challenges this assumption, offering a better understanding of what entertainment is, why we should take it seriously, as well as helping us to appreciate the significant and complex impact it has on our culture.