Historians are very much aware of the variety of national and international trends that have shaped historical inquiry in recent decades. Americanists, in particular, have been conscious of the growing importance of gender issues, the 'turn' to questions of language and meaning, the increasing significance of cultural matters, and a new emphasis on regional history. The 1990s, moreover, saw a major movement to internationalize approaches to American history by emphasizing comparisons with other countries and cultures. By the end of the twentieth century it was by no means clear whether there was any distinctive 'American' history or, if it did exist, what its main contours were.
This book brings together a distinguished international group of scholars in an effort to answer this key question through a sustained interrogation of the periods, themes, fields, problems and perspectives in historical writing on the United States. How have the intricate issues surrounding gender, race, slavery and civil rights been resolved and interpreted in recent American history? How have historians dealt with the complexities of events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the New Deal in developing their historical narratives? In what ways have technological developments in industry, print and film influenced the questions historians ask?
"The State of U.S. History" offers an exciting introduction to the debates surrounding the major trends in American historical debates and the crucial events and influences that have helped define the American experience.

Most historical writing on the relations between the United States and its European allies in the post-war period has concentrated on the development of the Cold War and the beginnings of European integration. An equally significant question is how relations between an increasingly self-confident Europe and a United States used to its leadership role developed after this period. This book investigates the successes and failures, as well as the diversity, that constituted both the strength and weakness of the transatlantic alliance. It looks at crucial areas of conflict, such as economics and trade, nuclear weapons, the language of power, and key personalities, as well as the very concept of a special relationship. How did Europe and the United States respond to economic emergencies such as the 1973-4 oil crisis and how were issues of power and control reflected in the language used by officials to describe foreign nations and statesmen? Who controlled the nuclear button and how did fears and feelings of inferiority influence European-American nuclear interdependence in NATO? How did American officials attempt to walk successfully in European corridors of power and how did Europeans network in Washington? What are the qualities that make relationships such as the Anglo-American or the German-American one special and what strains do they place on other members of the alliance?
Internationally renowned experts in their fields illuminate the most exciting and important research currently available on the European-American relationship and shed new light on the way the western alliance has functioned. This important book will have wide appeal for specialists in a number of fields: international relations, politics, economics, and history.

American History through Hollywood Film offers a new perspective on major issues in American history from the 1770s to the end of the twentieth century and explores how they have been represented in film. Melvyn Stokes examines how and why representation has changed over time, looking at the origins, underlying assumptions, production, and reception of an important cross-section of historical films. Chapters deal with key events in American history including the American Revolution, the Civil War and its legacy, the Great Depression, and the anti-communism of the Cold War era. Major themes such as ethnicity, slavery, Native Americans and Jewish immigrants are covered and a final chapter looks at the way the 1960s and 70s have been dealt with by Hollywood. This book is essential reading for anyone studying American history and the relationship between history and film.

The nine chapters in this volume provide a clear and accessible overview of the 20th-century history of the American South. Topics covered include labour, intellectual and women's history as well as an analysis of the impact of Federal government policy on economic and social affairs. While embracing several fields, the authors all address the same theme: the slow loss of Southern distinctiveness and the effect this process has had on issues of race and class.

This collection brings together many of the world’s leading scholars on race and film to re-consider the legacy and impact of D.W. Griffith’s deeply racist 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation. While this film is often cited, there is a considerable dearth of substantial research on its initial impact and global reach. These essays fill important gaps in the history of the film, including essential work on its sources, international reception, and African American responses. This book is a key text in the history of the most infamous and controversial film ever made and offers crucial new insights to scholars and students working in film history, African American history and the history of race relations.

Cinema Memories brings together and analyses the memories of almost a thousand people of going to the cinema in Britain during the 1960s. It offers a fresh perspective on the social, cultural and film history of what has come to be seen as an iconic decade, with the release of films such as A Taste of Honey, The Sound of Music, Darling, Blow-Up, Alfie, The Graduate, and Bonnie and Clyde. Drawing on first-hand accounts, authors Melvyn Stokes, Matthew Jones and Emma Pett explore how cinema-goers constructed meanings from the films they watched - through a complex process of negotiation between the films concerned, their own social and cultural identities, and their awareness of changes in British society. Their analysis helps the reader see what light the cultural memory of 1960s cinema-going sheds on how the Sixties in Britain is remembered and interpreted. Positioning their study within debates about memory, 1960s cinema, and the seemingly transformative nature of this decade of British history, the authors reflect on the methodologies deployed, the use of memories as historical sources, and the various ways in which cinema and cinema-going came to mean something to their audiences.

A nickelodeon screening a Charlie Chaplin silent classic, the downtown arthouse cinemas that made Antonioni and Cassavetes household names, the modern suburban megaplex and its sold-out Friday night blockbuster: "how" American and global audiences have viewed movies is as rich a part of cinematic history as "what" we've seen on the silver screen. "Going to the Movies" considers the implications of this social and cultural history through an analysis of the diverse historical and geographical circumstances in which audiences have viewed American cinema. Featuring a distinguished group of film scholars--including Richard Abel, Annette Kuhn, Jane Gaines, and Thomas Doherty--whose interests range broadly across time and place, this volume analyzes the role of movie theatres in local communities, the links between film and other entertainment media, non-theatrical exhibition, and trends arising from the globalization of audiences. Emphasizing moviegoing outside of the northeastern United States, as well as the complexities of race in relation to cinema attendance, "Going to the Movies "appeals to the global citizen of cinema--locating the moviegoing experience in its appeal to the heart and mind of the audience, whether it's located in a South African shanty town or the screening room of a Hollywood production lot.

A nickelodeon screening a Charlie Chaplin silent classic, the downtown arthouse cinemas that made Antonioni and Cassavetes household names, the modern suburban megaplex and its sold-out Friday night blockbuster: "how" American and global audiences have viewed movies is as rich a part of cinematic history as "what" we've seen on the silver screen. "Going to the Movies" considers the implications of this social and cultural history through an analysis of the diverse historical and geographical circumstances in which audiences have viewed American cinema. Featuring a distinguished group of film scholars--including Richard Abel, Annette Kuhn, Jane Gaines, and Thomas Doherty--whose interests range broadly across time and place, this volume analyzes the role of movie theatres in local communities, the links between film and other entertainment media, non-theatrical exhibition, and trends arising from the globalization of audiences. Emphasizing moviegoing outside of the northeastern United States, as well as the complexities of race in relation to cinema attendance, "Going to the Movies "appeals to the global citizen of cinema--locating the moviegoing experience in its appeal to the heart and mind of the audience, whether it's located in a South African shanty town or the screening room of a Hollywood production lot.

In this deeply researched and vividly written volume, Melvyn Stokes illuminates the origins, production, reception and continuing history of this ground-breaking, aesthetically brilliant, and yet highly controversial movie landmark. By going back to the original archives, particularly the NAACP and D. W. Griffith Papers, Stokes explodes many of the myths surrounding The Birth of a Nation (1915). Yet the story that remains is fascinating: the longest American film of its time, Griffith's film incorporated many new features, including the first full musical score compiled for an American film. It was distributed and advertised by pioneering methods that would quickly become standard. Through the high prices charged for admission and the fact that it was shown, at first, only in "live" theaters with orchestral accompaniment, Birth played a major role in reconfiguring the American movie audience by attracting more middle-class patrons. But if the film was a milestone in the history of cinema, it was also undeniably racist. Stokes shows that the darker side of this classic movie has its origins in the racist ideas of Thomas Dixon, Jr. and Griffith's own Kentuckian background and earlier film career. The book reveals how, as the years went by, the campaign against the film became increasingly successful. In the 1920s, for example, the NAACP exploited the fact that the new Ku Klux Klan, which used Griffith's film as a recruiting and retention tool, was not just anti-black, but also anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish, as a way to mobilize new allies in opposition to the film. This crisply written book sheds light on both the film's racism and the aesthetic brilliance of Griffith's filmmaking. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the cinema.

Cinema Memories brings together and analyses the memories of almost a thousand people of going to the cinema in Britain during the 1960s. It offers a fresh perspective on the social, cultural and film history of what has come to be seen as an iconic decade, with the release of films such as A Taste of Honey, The Sound of Music, Darling, Blow-Up, Alfie, The Graduate, and Bonnie and Clyde. Drawing on first-hand accounts, authors Melvyn Stokes, Matthew Jones and Emma Pett explore how cinema-goers constructed meanings from the films they watched - through a complex process of negotiation between the films concerned, their own social and cultural identities, and their awareness of changes in British society. Their analysis helps the reader see what light the cultural memory of 1960s cinema-going sheds on how the Sixties in Britain is remembered and interpreted. Positioning their study within debates about memory, 1960s cinema, and the seemingly transformative nature of this decade of British history, the authors reflect on the methodologies deployed, the use of memories as historical sources, and the various ways in which cinema and cinema-going came to mean something to their audiences.

In this deeply researched and vividly written volume, Melvyn Stokes illuminates the origins, production, reception and continuing history of this ground-breaking, aesthetically brilliant, and yet highly controversial movie.
By going back to the original archives, particularly the NAACP and D. W. Griffith Papers, Stokes explodes many of the myths surrounding The Birth of a Nation (1915). Yet the story that remains is fascinating: the longest American film of its time, Griffith's film incorporated many new features, including the first full musical score compiled for an American film. It was distributed and advertised by pioneering methods that would quickly become standard. Through the high prices charged for admission and the fact that it was shown, at first, only in "live" theaters with orchestral accompaniment, Birth played a major role in reconfiguring the American movie audience by attracting more middle-class patrons. But if the film was a milestone in the history of cinema, it was also undeniably racist. Stokes shows that the darker side of this classic movie has its origins in the racist ideas of Thomas Dixon, Jr. and Griffith's own Kentuckian background and earlier film career. The book reveals how, as the years went by, the campaign against the film became increasingly successful. In the 1920s, for example, the NAACP exploited the fact that the new Ku Klux Klan, which used Griffith's film as a recruiting and retention tool, was not just anti-black, but also anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish, as a way to mobilize new allies in opposition to the film.
This crisply written book sheds light on both the film's racism and the aesthetic brilliance of Griffith's filmmaking. It is amust-read for anyone interested in the cinema.

American History through Hollywood Film offers a new perspective on major issues in American history from the 1770s to the end of the twentieth century and explores how they have been represented in film. Melvyn Stokes examines how and why representation has changed over time, looking at the origins, underlying assumptions, production, and reception of an important cross-section of historical films. Chapters deal with key events in American history including the American Revolution, the Civil War and its legacy, the Great Depression, and the anti-communism of the Cold War era. Major themes such as ethnicity, slavery, Native Americans and Jewish immigrants are covered and a final chapter looks at the way the 1960s and 70s have been dealt with by Hollywood. This book is essential reading for anyone studying American history and the relationship between history and film.

"Hollywood Abroad "is the first book to examine the reception of Hollywood movies by non-American audiences. Although numerous books on film history have analyzed the ways in which American films came to dominate world markets, there has so far been very little published work on how audiences outside the United States have responded to Hollywood-produced films. "Hollywood Abroad "explores the reception of U.S. films in Britain, France, Belgium, Turkey, Australia, India, Japan, and Central Africa. The book covers topics from the first major penetration of American films into France, Britain, and Australia to the impact of such films as "The Best Years of Our Lives "to the response of Belgian young people in the age of the multiplex. It demonstrates that the story of the reception of American films overseas is less one of domination than of a complex adoption of Hollywood into various cultures.

Historians are very much aware of the variety of national and international trends that have shaped historical inquiry in recent decades. Americanists, in particular, have been conscious of the growing importance of gender issues, the 'turn' to questions of language and meaning, the increasing significance of cultural matters, and a new emphasis on regional history. The 1990s, moreover, saw a major movement to internationalize approaches to American history by emphasizing comparisons with other countries and cultures. By the end of the twentieth century it was by no means clear whether there was any distinctive 'American' history or, if it did exist, what its main contours were.This book brings together a distinguished international group of scholars in an effort to answer this key question through a sustained interrogation of the periods, themes, fields, problems and perspectives in historical writing on the United States. How have the intricate issues surrounding gender, race, slavery and civil rights been resolved and interpreted in recent American history? How have historians dealt with the complexities of events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction and the New Deal in developing their historical narratives? In what ways have technological developments in industry, print and film influenced the questions historians ask?"The State of U.S. History" offers an exciting introduction to the debates surrounding the major trends in American historical debates and the crucial events and influences that have helped define the American experience.

The nine chapters in this volume provide a clear and accessible overview of the 20th-century history of the American South. Topics covered include labour, intellectual and women's history as well as an analysis of the impact of Federal government policy on economic and social affairs. While embracing several fields, the authors all address the same theme: the slow loss of Southern distinctiveness and the effect this process has had on issues of race and class.

Hollywood Abroad is the first book to examine the reception of Hollywood movies by non-American audiences. Although numerous books on film history have analysed the ways in which American films came to dominate world markets, there has so far been very little published work on how audiences outside the United States have responded to Hollywood-produced films. Hollywood Abroad is a pioneering attempt to examine this issue. It unites the work of a number of scholars exploring the reception of U.S. films in Britain, France, Belgium, Turkey, Australia, India, Japan and Central Africa. The book covers topics from the first major penetration of American films into France, Britain and Australia through to the impact of such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and the response of Belgian young people in the age of the multiplex. The book demonstrates that the story of the reception of American films overseas is less one of domination than a complex adoption of Hollywood into their own 'host' cultures.

The last decade has seen a major shift in the way nineteenth-century American history is interpreted, and increasing attention is being paid to the market revolution occurring between 1815 and the Civil War. This collection of twelve essays by preeminent scholars in nineteenth-century history aims to respond to Charles Sellers's The Market Revolution, reflecting upon the historiographic accomplishments initiated by his work, while at the same time advancing the argument across a range of fields.