these films are artistic “landmarks” in one way or another, or in several ways: because of their very subject matter; because of their style and technical or formal advances; because of the historical periods, social settings, or political backgrounds that gave impetus to their creation; and, ultimately, because of each picture’s unique vision of the world. The author’s approach combines formalism with historicism in the belief that films, like other works of art, cannot be properly analyzed and understood unless they are placed in social, historical, political, and cultural context. He decided to write this book as a companion text to his own course on American cinema, so that his students could read in depth about the films screened in class and could also be offered models for their own writing and research—in addition to topics for such writing and for class discussion, bibliographies, notes, movie credits, and filmographies.

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