Selling Hollywood to the World
US and European Struggles for Mastery of the Global Film Industry, 1920–1950

The global expansion of Hollywood and American popular culture in the first decades of the twentieth century met with strong opposition throughout the world. Determined to defeat such resistance, the Hollywood moguls created a powerful trade organization that worked closely with the US State Department in an effort to expand the American film industry's dominance worldwide. This book offers insight into and analysis of European efforts to overcome the American film industry's pre-eminence. It focuses particularly on Britain, Hollywood's largest overseas market of the interwar years; France, a nation with an alternative vision of cinema; and Belgium, which was entrusted by the Vatican with coordination of the international movement against depravity in films. In contributing to the understanding of American popular culture at home and abroad, this study demonstrates Hollywood's role in orchestrating the American Century.

Awards

• Allan Nevins Prize for Literary Distinction in the writing of history from the Society of American Historians

Reviews & endorsements

'This is an important book on the political economy of Hollywood.' John Sedgwick, University of London

Customer reviews

Product details

• Date Published: October 2007
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9780521042666
• length: 400 pages

• dimensions: 229 x 154 x 24 mm
• weight: 0.604kg
• contains: 8 b/w illus. 2 tables
• availability: Available