Hailed as the definitive work upon its original publication in 1975 and now extensively revised and updated by the author, this vastly absorbing and richly illustrated book examines film as an art form, technological innovation, big business, and shaper of American values. 80 black-and-white photos.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
Highly over-rated, December 22, 2008
By
Mark S. Snyder (Boca Raton, Florida)
While I realize that Robert Sklar's Movie Made America is a regularly used text in many university film courses, I can only surmise that this may be why so many film classes are boring. While Skylar's book is somewhat comprehensive as far as it goes, it is not only overly pedantic but it is written with no determinable sense of chronology. While it is subtitled "A Cultural History of American Movies," it is more a social history of early Hollywood with an emphasis on the old studio system and those early personages which comprised that system. Furthermore, easily one-third of the book is dedicated to the first twenty years of American film making.
I purchased this book for adoption in a university film course that I teach which has as its emphasis the cultural underpinnings of American Film. While my students appreciated that the book was inexpensive, both the students and I agreed that the book was uninspired, unexciting, unimaginative, unattractive, unintelligible, and nearly unreadable. Additionally, it is cheap looking; it is printed on cheap paper which allowed bleed-through of the ink; and the photographs are reproduced with less quality than you would find in a newspaper. I am going back to John Belton's book, American Cinema, American Culture, next semester.
wow, July 10, 2008
By
Andrew Joseph Pegoda (Houston area, Texas)
Sklar has combined 100 years of film and history to present a cultural portrait of the United States.
Out there, September 1, 2007
By
Kira Dawn Foltz (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA)
I have only read the first 3 or 4 chapters so far, but the editor has no linear stream of conciousness. He meanders along in his thought process with no logical structure in mind. Interesting take on the history of American movies.
A Grand Discourse on Filmdom and Society., December 10, 2006
By
Kiril G. Kundurazieff (Santa Ana, CA United States)
The author shows how movies not only reflect our society but influence it as well.
Are you a film buff, a history buff, or both?
Then this book will fascinate you from start to finish.
Interesting Course Reading, September 27, 2005
By
B. Lomas (Los Angeles, CA)
This is a great book that was required reading for Steven Ross' "Film, Power, and American, History" course at USC. Not only was it very relevant and well organized, but genuinely interesting too!
