They're back! Nealon and Sarls Giroux still pack more thoughtful questions and more useful information into the second edition of their 'toolbox' than multi-volume encyclopedias. If you can find a better guide for both beginners and more advanced students to the major intellectual challenges of our time, go ahead and buy it. Meanwhile, the readers of this handy (and witty) little text will already be writing the works that will be discussed in the third edition.

John McGowan, The Ruel W. Tyson Jr. Distinguished Professor of Humanities, University of North Carolina; coeditor of The Norton Anthology

The Theory Toolbox is essential and required reading in my undergraduate and graduate architectural history and theory courses. The book is particularly useful as an excellent introduction to basic concepts that students in humanities, science, and design need to engage in meaningful discussion of culture and society. Through timely examples from popular culture and working questions that stimulate active discussion both in the classroom and in the online environment, The Theory Toolbox is my go-to guide for critical concepts as it inspires and engenders critical thinking and reasoned dialogue for the beginning theory student.

Renata Hejduk, Arizona State University

Students find The Theory Toolbox isn't about learning theory through narrow interpretive lenses but thinking critically through theorizing and questioning perspectives.

Richard Bower, Cayuga Community College

As a first introduction for the perplexed and confused to critical and cultural theory, there's no better place to start than The Theory Toolbox. The addition of chapters on Life and Nature in this second edition are welcome. They are written as engagingly and insightfully as the rest of the book, and as with the rest, these chapters tease out the ways in which the natural order is made to seem natural through biopower and the defense of an uncritical line between humanity and animality. With its clear, concise, and accurate accounts of often complex theories, instructors will find this an excellent addition to any theory course; with its provocative working questions and up-to-date, funny examples, students will find this book to be illuminating and exhilarating.

Bruce B. Janz, University of Central Florida

Students quickly learn to employ theoretical concepts in their own work. The authors support this development by examining theory in relation to material that may at first seem familiar but that the authors then encourage the students to question in complex ways. The new chapters introduce important emerging areas of scholarship that students and instructors should find appealing.

Tracy Neal Leavelle, Creighton University

I have used The Theory Toolbox several times in my Communication Theory classes, and the response from my students was extremely positive. The theories and concepts in the Toolbox are clearly presented and approachable despite the fact that these ideas are often difficult to cover at the undergraduate level. Nealon and Searls Giroux explain complex ideas using everyday poetry, music and pop culture artifacts that are readily accessible to everyone. They really get my students thinking and engaged. The new chapters on Life and Nature promise similar thought-provoking and lively discussions.

Katy Wiss, Western Connecticut State University