Book excerpt: Absolute Essentials of Public Relations offers a valuable quick-start introduction to the many facets and forms of public relations theory and practice. It explores contemporary public relations through multiple lenses by focusing on what public relations essentially comprises, how it has come into existence, what contexts public relations works within, what tools and techniques professionals can deploy, and how professionals assess and justify the outcomes of their work. Divided into two parts – Concepts and Theories, and Applications and Specialisms – the book covers the fundamental theories and concepts and their application in contemporary practice, which together broadly reflect the typical syllabus content for undergraduate, postgraduate, and post-experience introductory courses in public relations. The topics covered in both sections are complemented by mini cases, which showcase academic and professional insights into practice. Offering a concise and approachable alternative to the mainstream, more heavyweight textbooks available, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to public relations theory and practice.