Movies and American Society

Steven J. Ross

Wiley, Jun 10, 2002 - History - 375 pages

This outstanding collection of the best film history scholarship gathers recent essays and supporting documents to illustrate the power of movies to change, and be changed by, American society. The book follows movies from their beginnings in nickelodeons to the current state of Hollywood globalism. It illustrates that movies have played an important role in shaping and reflecting how millions of Americans see and think about their world. The essays show to a great extent exactly how and why movies have a unique influence on all aspects of American culture, including ideology, politics, and race relations.

Editorial introductions place these readings in historical and ideological context, and lists of recommended readings and screenings give guidance for further research. This is the ideal collection for anyone interested in film history.

About the author

Steven J. Ross is Professor of History at the University of Southern California. He is co-founder and co-director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and the author of Workers on the Edge: Work, Leisure, and Politics in Industrializing Cincinnati (1985) and Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America (1998), which won the Theater Library Association Book Award. Ross is a recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Scholars Award.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Movies and American Society; Volume 10 of Blackwell Readers in American Social and Cultural History
• Editor: Steven J. Ross
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Wiley, 2002
• ISBN: 0631219609, 9780631219606
• Length: 375 pages
• Subjects: History / Social History; History / United States / 20th Century; History / United States / General; Performing Arts / Film & Video / History & Criticism; Social Science / Popular Culture