The late Miriam Bratu Hansen was Ferdinand Schevill Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago and the founding chair of what is now the Department of Cinema and Media Studies. Her publications include Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film and numerous essays in international film history and film theory.

"This magisterial book is a gift... There is no other study like it." Artforum [Hansen's] reader is amply rewarded by the rich suggestiveness and expansive quality of her insights... A crowning achievement." Bookforum "A crowning achievement in its own right." -- Noah Isenberg Bookforum

• Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Part I. Kracauer 1. Film, Medium of a Disintegrating World 2. Curious Americanism Part II. Benjamin 3. Actuality, Antinomies 4. Aura: The Appropriation of a Concept 5. Mistaking the Moon for a Ball 6. Micky-Maus 7. Room-for-Play Part III. Adorno 8. The Question of Film Aesthetics Part IV. Kracauer in Exile 9. Theory of Film Notes Index

The late Miriam Bratu Hansen was Ferdinand Schevill Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities at the University of Chicago and the founding chair of what is now the Department of Cinema and Media Studies. Her publications include Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film and numerous essays in international film history and film theory.

"This magisterial book is a gift... There is no other study like it." Artforum [Hansen's] reader is amply rewarded by the rich suggestiveness and expansive quality of her insights... A crowning achievement." Bookforum "A crowning achievement in its own right." -- Noah Isenberg Bookforum

• Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Part I. Kracauer 1. Film, Medium of a Disintegrating World 2. Curious Americanism Part II. Benjamin 3. Actuality, Antinomies 4. Aura: The Appropriation of a Concept 5. Mistaking the Moon for a Ball 6. Micky-Maus 7. Room-for-Play Part III. Adorno 8. The Question of Film Aesthetics Part IV. Kracauer in Exile 9. Theory of Film Notes Index