Damico (communication) and Quay (education, both Endicott College) offer a book distinct from other recent similar titles in two significant respects: they encompass a more diverse set of texts than either Brett Martin's Difficult Men or Alan Sepinwall's The Revolution Was Televised (2013); and they uniquely focus on the direct and indirect connections between contemporary culture and contemporary television narratives. Each chapter explores two themes (e.g., "Women and Men," "Home and Work," "Fact and Fiction"), with an overview of each that includes numerous examples of programs engaging that theme and a close reading of selected illustrative texts. "Safe and Unsafe," for example, discusses how the issues surrounding 9/11 and counterterrorism are inflected in a number of dramas and then examines more closely the story lines and characters of Rescue Me and Homeland. The chapter also includes "side notes" on Person of Interest, The Americans, and comic book TV. "Stories and Audiences," the chapter that opens the text, establishes the changes in narrative content and structure, media convergence, broader cultural inclusion, and changes to the experience of television viewing that characterize the current Golden Age. Examples include Jane the Virgin and House of Cards. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. --Susan Clerc, Southern Connecticut State University