In the early 1970's the author of this article decided to dedicate his life to two tasks. The first was to write politically and creatively in popular literary genres such as the detective novel for a larger public than one was likely to find through academic writing. The second was to write politically and inventively within the genres of academic discourse in a way that might push the boundaries of such discourse toward "writing about the world." He explains that the reason he attempted to pursue a double career as an academic/political writer and as a creative/public writer in popular genres was because as a graduate student he came across the popular political fiction of an earlier generation of writers--Graham Greene and Eric Ambler especially--and fell in love with it. Moreover, his sense from writing to agents was that agents are quite willing to entertain material that blends radical ideas with marketable generic forms. He maintains that academic writing in a political mode is still necessary and needs to be done as well as ever. He also calls out, for writers to expand their ideas to an even larger political audience through the media in forms such as movie screen plays, novels, and children's books. The article presents the idea that public pedagogy can best be exercised in the media that are the staples of common people's lives. A discussion of his own writings, and experiences with various forms of media is provided.