Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Peter Decherney tells the story of Hollywood, from its nineteenth-century origins to the emergence of internet media empires.

• Brings all of Hollywood history together in a short, readable text
• Covers technological innovation from pre-film technology through the internet
• Explains how Hollywood works, including the star system, the genre system, the formation of the studio system, and the impact of new technologies
• Puts YouTube, Netflix, and the internet in the context of earlier Hollywood history
• Part of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - millions of copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Peter Decherney, Professor of English and Cinema Studies, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania

Peter Decherney is Professor of Cinema Studies and English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author or editor of five books including Hollywood's Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet. Professor Decherney has been an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scholar, a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, and a U.S. State Department Arts Envoy to Myanmar. He has received multiple teaching awards and is a Forbes.com contributor.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Five Theses on the History of Hollywood
1. Before Hollywood
2. The Studio System
3. Sound and the Production Code
4. Hollywood at War
5. The Blacklist and Cold War
6. The New Hollywood
7. Home Video and Indiewood
8. Digital Cinema and the Internet