Taking as its point of departure Roland Barthes' classic series of essays, Mythologies, Rebecca Houze presents an exploration of signs and symbols in the visual landscape of postmodernity. In nine chapters Houze considers a range of contemporary phenomena, from the history of sustainability to the meaning of sports and children's building toys. Among the ubiquitous global trademarks she examines are BP, McDonald's, and Nike. What do these icons say to us today? What political and ideological messages are hidden beneath their surfaces? Taking the idea of myth in its broadest sense, the individual case studies employ a variety of analytic methods derived from linguistics, psychoanalysis, anthropology, sociology, and art history. In their eclecticism of approach they demonstrate the interdisciplinarity of design history and design studies.

Just as Barthes' meditations on culture concentrated on his native France, New Mythologies is rooted in the author's experience of living and teaching in the United States. Houze's reflections encompass both contemporary American popular culture and the history of American industry, with reference to such foundational figures as Thomas Jefferson and Walt Disney. The collection provides a point of entry into today's complex postmodern or post-postmodern world, and suggests some ways of thinking about its meanings, and the lessons we might learn from it.

以罗兰-巴特的经典系列论文《神话》为出发点，丽贝卡-霍兹对后现代的视觉景观中的符号和象征进行了探索。在九个章节中，Houze考虑了一系列当代现象，从可持续性的历史到体育和儿童建筑玩具的意义。在她研究的无处不在的全球商标中，有BP、麦当劳和耐克。这些图标今天对我们说了什么？在它们的表面下隐藏着哪些政治和意识形态的信息？从最广义的神话概念出发，各个案例研究采用了来自语言学、精神分析、人类学、社会学和艺术史的各种分析方法。在其折衷主义的方法中，他们展示了设计史和设计研究的跨学科性。

正如Barthes对文化的思考集中在他的祖国法国一样，《新神话》扎根于作者在美国的生活和教学经验。Houze的思考包含了当代美国流行文化和美国工业的历史，并参考了托马斯-杰斐逊和沃尔特-迪士尼等基础人物。这套书为我们提供了一个进入当今复杂的后现代或后后现代世界的切入点，并提出了一些思考其意义的方法，以及我们可能从其中学到的教训。