Stuart Hall (1932–2014) was one of the most prominent and influential scholars and public intellectuals of his generation. Hall taught at the University of Birmingham and the Open University, was the founding editor of New Left Review, and was the author of Cultural Studies 1983: A Theoretical History, Familiar Stranger: A Life between Two Islands, and other books also published by Duke University Press.

Charlotte Brunsdon is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick. Her most recent book is Television Cities: Paris, London, Baltimore, also published by Duke University Press.