A collection of writings on critical theory by Jean Baudrillard. Introduction by the editor Mark Poster. "Baudrillard has developed a theory to make intelligible one of the most perplexing aspects of advanced industrial society: the proliferation of communication s through the media... The selections in this volume represent a cross section of Baudrillard's writings from 1968 to 1985 and are drawn mostly from his major books. About half of the selections appear in English translation for the first time." -- from back cover. Texts include "The System of Objects," "Consumer Society," "For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign," "The Mirror of Production," "Symbolic Exchange and Death," "On Seduction," "Simulacra and Simulations," "Fatal Strategies," and "The Masses : The Implosion of the Social in the Media."