What good is history to cultural studies? Meaghan Morris looks at struggles over "history" in social settings created by capitalism: in tourist landscapes and in television time. The materials of her analysis are motels, shopping malls, beaches, and local politics. She focuses on history and cultural heritage as issues of controversy for white working-class and poor suburban communities, as well as for urban cultural elites.

Meaghan Morris is a figure of world stature in the field of Cultural Studies and she is immediate past Chair of the international Association for Cultural Studies (ACS), 2004-08. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a former ARC Senior Fellow, she divides her time between the University of Sydney and Lingnan University, Hong Kong, where she has been Chair Professor of Cultural Studies since 2000. Her books, including The Pirate's Fiancée: Feminism, Reading, Postmodernism, Too Soon Too Late: History in Popular Culture, and Identity Anecdotes: Translation and Media Culture, focus on the role of the media and popular history in forming public cultures.