Readers can enter to win Lisa M. Stulberg's new book, How to Win a Culture War, a timely study of how LGBTQ+ artists, athletes and activists use visibility, storytelling and workplace change to shift public attitudes across the United States.

Essential Takeaways

  • Prize book: How to Win a Culture War examines LGBTQ+ social change through entertainment, sport and politics.
  • Long-running research: Sociologist Lisa M. Stulberg interviewed 170 culture workers over 14 years.
  • Six-part approach: The book highlights visibility, platform-building, workplace reform, excellence, normalisation and staying openly queer.
  • Who can enter: The giveaway is open to US residents aged 18 and over, with one entry permitted per person.
  • Why it feels timely: Popular queer-led television shows have made cultural representation a mainstream conversation.

Why this book arrives at the right moment

Some cultural shifts begin quietly, then suddenly appear everywhere. A television drama, a high-profile athlete or a familiar face in a workplace can make once-uncomfortable conversations feel ordinary, even intimate.

That is the territory explored in How to Win a Culture War. Stulberg's book considers how LGBTQ+ people and their allies have used culture not simply to reflect social change, but to help create it. The argument is especially relevant while representation remains both increasingly visible and politically contested.

From sporting arenas to television screens

The book draws on 170 interviews conducted across 14 years, including conversations with actors, writers, producers, musicians, elite athletes and activists. The range matters because cultural influence rarely comes from one industry alone. A television writer may open a door that an athlete later pushes wider, while activists help turn visibility into lasting institutional change.

Recent television successes have made that connection hard to miss. Heated Rivalry, a series centred on two queer ice hockey players, has brought a same-sex love story into a traditionally masculine sporting world, according to listings and coverage from Rotten Tomatoes and Tom's Guide. Its popularity also underlines the book's central idea: audiences don't just consume stories, they absorb new possibilities through them.

The six moves behind meaningful representation

Stulberg identifies six recurring actions among the people she studied. They become visible, make use of the platforms available to them, change their workplaces, overachieve in environments that may doubt them, become familiar to wider audiences and remain openly queer.

That final point is particularly striking. Representation can become polished and harmless when it loses its connection to real lives, disagreement and community. The book instead presents openness as an active choice, one that can carry personal risk but also prevents LGBTQ+ visibility from becoming merely decorative.

For readers looking for an accessible introduction to LGBTQ+ social change through pop culture, this framework offers a useful way to watch, listen and think more critically. The next time a show, performer or athlete shifts a public conversation, these six ideas provide a handy lens.

How the giveaway works

The competition is open between Friday, 23 October, and Friday, 13 November. Entrants must be US residents aged 18 or over, and the rules allow one entry per person.

That makes the giveaway a straightforward opportunity for readers interested in sociology, LGBTQ+ history, media studies or the politics of representation. It also suits anyone who has ever wondered why one television programme or public figure can suddenly change what feels possible on screen and in everyday life.

A cultural playbook rather than a quick fix

How to Win a Culture War doesn't suggest that a successful drama or a single public coming-out moment can solve discrimination. Instead, it presents cultural change as cumulative work, built through stories, institutions, professional courage and community pressure.

That feels like the book's most valuable promise. Culture can entertain us, but it can also quietly redraw the boundaries of belonging. As more creators and performers take that responsibility seriously, audiences are left with more than a good story: they're given a different map of the world.

Enter if the book sounds like your kind of read, and check the eligibility rules before submitting your form.

Source Reference Map

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