The best-selling composition reader on popular culture, Signs of Life in the USA has been adopted at more than 700 colleges and universities since its first edition. Unlike other popular culture readers, Signs of Life presumes that this topic merits rigorous analysis and so provides a conceptual framework for understanding it: semiotics, a field of critical theory developed specifically for the interpretation of culture and its signs. The selections in Signs of Life are arranged in provocative chapters (on such themes as gender codes, television and music, film, and advertising) that tap into students' own experiences with and interest in popular culture. The uniquely qualified editorial team of a prominent semiotician and an experienced writing instructor have prepared extensive apparatus to prompt the rigorous analysis that help students become better thinkers and writers.