Twelve narrative chapters chronicle the nation's survival during wartime and its path toward unforeseen cultural shifts in the years ahead. Included are chapter bibliographies, a timeline, a cost comparison, and a suggested reading list for students. This latest addition to Greenwood's "American Popular Culture Through History" series is an invaluable contribution to the study of American popular culture.

The 1940s were like no other time in U.S. history. The nation went to war in both Europe and Asia; meanwhile, the American population shifted from being largely rural to predominantly urban. The greatest generation saw, and helped, America change forever. Robert Sickels captures the many ways in which the nation's popular culture grew and evolved. The 1940s saw the emergence of such phenomena as television, Levittown housing, comic-book superheroes, pre-packaged foods, Christian Dior's New Look, the original swing music, and the first Beatniks. Twelve narrative chapters chronicle the nation's survival during wartime and its path toward unforeseen cultural shifts in the years ahead.

Included are chapter bibliographies, a timeline, a cost comparison, and a suggested reading list for students. This latest addition to Greenwood's "American Popular Culture Through History" series is an invaluable contribution to the study of American popular culture.

This eclectic, yet comprehensive analytical overview of the cataclysmic changes in the American film industry since 1990 shows how they have collectively resulted in a new era—The Digital Age. The American film industry has entered a new era. American Film in the Digital Age traces the industrial changes since 1990 that have brought us to this point, namely: the rise of media conglomerates, the proliferation of pornography through peripheral avenues of mainstream media, the role of star actors and directors in distributing and publicizing their own pet projects, the development of digital technology, and the death of truly independent films. Author Robert Sickels draws straight lines from the movies to music, DVDs, video games, fast food, digital-on-demand, and more, to demonstrate how all forms of media are merging into one. He explores the irony that the success of independent films essentially killed independent cinema, showing how it has become almost impossible to get a film released without the imprimatur of one of the big six media companies—Fox, Viacom, TimeWarner, Disney, General Electric, or CBS. In the end, using recent, popular films as examples, he explains not only how we got where we are, but where we're likely headed as well.