John E. O’Connor is former Professor of History at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA. Martin A. Jackson is co-founder of the Historians Film Committee and taught history and film studies at the State University of New York and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA.

• Foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, JrIntroduction1. The New Woman and Twenties America: Way Down East (1920) June Sochen2. The Great War Viewed From the Twenties: The Big Parade (1925) Michael T. Isenberg3. ‘Race Movies’ as Voices of the Black Bourgeoisie: The Scar of Shame (1927) Thomas Cripps4. Bullets, Beer and the Hays Office: Public Enemy (1931) Garth Jowett5. Will Rogers and the Relevance of Nostalgia: Steamboat ‘Round the Bend (1935) Peter C. Rollins6. A Reaffirmation of the American Ideals: Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) John E. O’Connor7. Our Awkward Ally: Mission to Moscow (1943) David Culbert8. The Uncertain Peace: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Martin A. Jackson9. Empire to the West: Red River (1948) Robert Sklar10. An American Cold Warrior: Viva Zapata! (1952) Paul J. Vanderwood11. The Age of Conspiracy and Conformity: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Stuart Samuels12. The Pentagon and Hollywood: Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Lawrence Suid13. Hollywood, Nihilism and the Youth Culture of the Sixties: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Lawrence L. Murray14. The Blue Collar Ethnic in Bicentennial America: Rocky (1976) Daniel J. Leab 15. Fragments of War: Platoon (1986) Lawrence W. Lichty and Raymond L. CarrollNotes on ContributorsFilmsFurther ReadingIndex