Bob Batchelor

Bob Batchelor is James Pedas Professor of Communication and Executive Director of the James Pedas Communication Center at Thiel College. A noted cultural historian, Bob is the author or editor of 24 books, including 3 volumes in Greenwood’s “Popular Culture through History” series: The 1900s, The 1980s, and The 2000s. In addition, he edited the four-volume American Pop: Popular Culture Decade by Decade, the three-volume Cult Pop Culture: How the Fringe Became Mainstream, and the three-volume American History through American Sports. Bob has published articles in Radical History Review, The Journal of American Culture, The Mailer Review, The American Prospect Online, and Public Relations Review, as well as some 30+ book chapters. 

Bob is the book series editor for two book series: “Contemporary American Literature” and “Great Writers, Great Books” published by Rowman & Littlefield. He is a member of the editorial advisory boards of The Journal of Popular Culture and the International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. An active member of the John Updike Society, Bob is Director of Marketing & Media for The John Updike Childhood Home Museum in Reading, PA. 

Bob serves as the founding Editor of The Popular Culture Studies Journal, the official journal of the Midwest Popular / American Culture Association.

Bob's latest book, John Updike: A Critical Biography, came out in 2013. His next book will be the first in the "Contemporary American Literature" series, published in November 2013: Gatsby: A Cultural History of the Great American Novel. He is also editing a 3-volume anthology on advertising in American history and writing a short biography of rock icon Bob Dylan. 

Bob received undergraduate degrees in History, Philosophy, and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh and earned his doctorate in English at the University of South Florida, where he studied with Phillip Sipiora. http://www.bobbatchelor.com/home/About