Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood explores when, how, and why the industry accepted women as filmmakers in the 1910s and why, by the 1920s, those opportunities had disappeared. In looking at the issue in terms of workplace, Karen Ward Mahar not only unravels the mystery of the disappearing female filmmaker but uncovers the complicated relationships among gender, work culture, and business within modern industrial organizations.

"With meticulous scholarship and fluid writing, Mahar tells the story of this golden era of female filmmaking... Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood is not to be missed." -- Women's Review of Books

"A scrupulously researched and argued analysis of how and why women made great professional and artistic gains in the U.S. film industry from 1906 to the mid-1920s and why they lost most of that ground until the late twentieth century." -- Journal of American History

"Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood offers convincing evidence of how economic forces shaped women's access to film production and presents a complex and engaging story of the women who took advantage of those opportunities." -- Business History Review

"Mahar views the business of making movies from the inside out, focusing on questions about changing industrial models and work conventions. At her best, she shows how the industry's shifting business history impacted women's opportunities, recasting current understanding about the American film industry's development." -- Reviews in American History

Karen Ward Mahar is an associate professor of history at Siena College, New York.