Ruth Vasey is lecturer in Screen Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide. She is a contributor to The Oxford History of World Cinema, Movie Censorship and American Culture and Modern American Culture: An Introduction.

"Vasey's book is extremely well researched and contributes new knowledge and arguments to the field of censorship history. Vasey’s book is not only relevant to film history (specifically histories of censorship and the Hollywood studio system modes of production) but also to genre studies, national cinema and representations of race, ethnicity and sexuality. Vasey’s book is innovative and signposts a number of related areas for further research in her field. As an excellent example of film scholarship, The World According to Hollywood 1918-1939 is certainly worth reading even if it is not in your area." (Scope: An On-Line Journal of Film Studies, Dec 1999) "Vasey is a determined researcher, ably demonstrating that diligent searching can produce telling documentation. Here she has skilfully mined a vast array of data from the records left by the Production Code Administration, the studios - particularly Warner Bros. - and the public record of the US Department of Commerce." (Screen, Vol. 39, No. 3, Autumn 1998)

• Contents: Image making - managing the expansion of the motion picture industry; the open door - the industry's public relations; sound effects - technology and adaptation; sophisticated responses and displaced persons - content regulation and the studio relations committee; why is Mr Brown eating spaghetti? - content regulation and the production code administration; diplomatic representations - accommodating the foreign market; the big picture - the politics of "industry policy".