More than 20 years after it was first broadcast, The X-Files still holds the public imagination. Over nine seasons and two feature films, agents Mulder and Scully pursued monsters, aliens, mutants and shadowy conspirators across the American landscape. Running for more than 200 episodes, the series transformed television, crafting a postmodern mythology that spoke to the anxieties and uncertainties of the end of the 20th century and touched upon key themes like identity, faith, trust and authority. Covering the entire series from its debut through the second feature film, this book examines how creator Chris Carter and his team of writers-among them Homeland's Howard Gordon and Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan-turned a scrappy cult favorite on Fox (then America's "fourth network") into a global phenomenon that has influenced series like Lost and Westworld. Why did the show come to and end when it did? The truth is in here.

Christopher Nolan is one of the defining directors of the twenty-first century. Very few of his contemporaries can compete in terms of critical and commercial success, let alone cultural impact. Nolan's films have a rare ability to transcend audience expectations, appealing to both casual movie-goers and dyed-in-the-wool cineastes. Nolan's films range from gritty crime thrillers (Memento, Insomnia) to spectacular blockbusters (the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception). They have taken audiences from the depths of space (Interstellar) to the harsh realities of war (Dunkirk). They have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in modern movie-making. This book offers a critical history of the visionary filmmaker, taking a film-by-film trip through his filmography that traces his evolution from his early student films to his Best Director nomination for Dunkirk. Along the way, it explores both his directorial technique and his recurring thematic fascinations, and the intersection of the two.How did Christopher Nolan develop from an indie darling to a blockbuster auteur? What is it about his films that speak so effectively to their moment? Why has Nolan thrived at developing big-budget original story ideas in a cinematic climate dominated by franchises and reboots?