Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346997 in Books
• Published on: 1985-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Customer Reviews

A superb core text
Squarely aimed at an academic audience, this book is an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to engage in a serious study of film history.

What the first part of this text does is to apply the established methodologies of history and historiography to the relatively new discipline of film studies. This includes some rather heavyweight, 'philosophical' discussions about what history is, what it should do, and so on.

The second part looks at the different, diverse spheres of film history : aesthetic; technological; economic; and social. Finally, it explores the process of actually conducting film history.

Dense though it is, the text is never boring. It is a work of suitably historical erudition, both in tone and research; but also possesses the 'freshness' one would probably expect from a book about mass, popular culture.

In short, the book is an excellent foundation and springboard. It ought to stimulate the reader's mind to the diversity of film history, the difficulties inherent in conducting it, but most of all, the rewarding nature of such research.