"An excellent study that should interest film buffs, academics, and non-academics alike" ( Journal of the West).Hollywood's West examines popular perceptions of the frontier as a defining feature of American identity and history. Seventeen essays by prominent film scholars illuminate the allure of life on the edge of civilization and analyze how this region has been represented on big and small screens.Differing characterizations of the fr...

A "wide-ranging and sophisticated anthology" comparing theaters of war to wars in the movie theater (Dennis Showalter, author of Patton and Rommel).Why We Fought makes a powerful case that film can be as valuable a tool as primary documents for improving our understanding of the causes and consequences of war.A comprehensive look at war films, from depictions of the American Revolution to portrayals of September 11 and its aftermath, this v...

Eclectic criticism and insightful observations from "one of the most respected cultural historians working today" (Ronald A. Wells, Professor of History Emeritus, Calvin College)."From cowboy philosopher Will Rogers to popular perceptions of two world wars and Vietnam, from the history of language to the language of film and television, Peter Rollins has devoted his career to exploring the intriguing ways in which the creative impulse both shapes and reflects Americ...

From action flicks to biopics to SNL skits, how presidents are portrayed on screen: "An interesting study of the real presidency and the reel presidency." — USA Today MagazineWinner of the Popular Culture Association's Ray and Pat Browne Book AwardWhether serious or satirical, biographical or fictional, the ways that US presidents are depicted in popular culture reveal much about us as a nation. The contributors to Ho...

"A commendably comprehensive analysis of the issue of Hollywood's ability to shape our minds . . . invigorating reading." ? BooklistFilm has exerted a pervasive influence on the American mind, and in eras of economic instability and international conflict, the industry has not hesitated to use motion pictures for propaganda purposes. During less troubled times, citizens' ability to deal with political and social issues may be enhanced or thwarted by images ...

From Ken Burns's documentaries to historical dramas such as Roots, from A&E's Biography series to CNN, television has become the primary source for historical information for tens of millions of Americans today. Why has television become such a respected authority? What falsehoods enter our collective memory as truths? How is one to know what is real and what is imagined—or ignored—by producers, directors, or writers?Gary Edgerton and Peter Rollins have collected a group of essays ...

Offering both in-depth analyses of specific films and overviews of the industry's output, Hollywood's Indian provides insightful characterizations of the depiction of the Native Americans in film. This updated edition includes a new chapter on Smoke Signals , the groundbreaking independent film written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre. Taken as a whole the essays explore the many ways in which these portrayals have made an impact on our collective cultural life.

American history has always been an irresistible source of inspiration for filmmakers, and today, for good or ill, most Americans'sense of the past likely comes more from Hollywood than from the works of historians. In important films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Roots (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), how much is entertainment and how much is rooted in historical fact? In The Columbia Companion to American Histo...

The story of how our bottomless appetite for novelty, gossip, and melodrama has turned everything—news, politics, religion, high culture—into one vast public entertainment.Neal Gabler calls them "lifies," those blockbusters written in the medium of life that dominate the media and the national conversation for weeks, months, even years: the death of Princess Diana, the trial of O.J. Simpson, Kenneth Starr vs. William Jefferson Clinton. Real Life as Entertainment is hardly a new phe...

Fully revised, updated, and extended, the fifth edition of Hollywood’s America provides an important compilation of interpretive essays and primary documents that allows students to read films as cultural artifacts within the contexts of actual past events.A new edition of this classic textbook, which ties movies into the broader narrative of US and film historyThis fifth edition contains nine new chapters, with a greater overall emphasis on recent film his...

The ability to view recorded moving pictures has had a major impact on human culture since the development of the necessary technologies over a century ago. For most of this time people have gone to the movies to be entertained and perhaps edified, but in the meantime television, the videocassette recorder (VCR), the digital versatile disk (DVD) player, the personal computer (desktop and laptop), the internet and other technologies have made watching moving pictures possible at home, in th...

Each generation revises literary history and this is nowhere more evident than in the post-Second World War period. This 2011 Companion offers a comprehensive, authoritative and accessible overview of the diversity of American fiction since the Second World War. Essays by nineteen distinguished scholars provide critical insights into the significant genres, historical contexts, cultural diversity and major authors during a period of enormous American global political and cultural power. Th...