Histories on Screen

The Past and Present in Anglo-American Cinema and Television

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Edited by Sam Edwards, Michael Dolski and Faye Sayer

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Historical films

Keywords

historical films, United States, Great Britain

Publishing date

2018

Publisher

Bloomsbury Academic

Collection

Bloomsbury Research Skills for History

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 354 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-4742-1703-3

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Book Presentation:
How, as historians, should we ‘read’ a film? Histories on Screen answers this and other questions in a crucial volume for any history student keen to master source use. The book begins with a theoretical ‘Thinking about Film’ section that explores the ways in which films can be analyzed and interrogated as either primary sources, secondary sources or indeed as both. The much larger ‘Using Film’ segment of the book then offers engaging case studies which put this theory into practice. Topics including gender, class, race, war, propaganda, national identity and memory all receive good coverage in what is an eclectic multi-contributor volume. Documentaries, films and television from Britain and the United States are examined and there is a jargon-free emphasis on the skills and methods needed to analyze films in historical study featuring prominently throughout the text. Histories on Screen is a vital resource for all history students as it enables them to understand film as a source and empowers them with the analytical tools needed to use that knowledge in their own work.

About the authors:
Sam Edwards is Reader in Modern Political History at Loughborough University, UK. He is the author of Allies in Memory: World War II and the Politics of Transatlantic Commemoration, c. 1941-2001 (2015)and the co-editor, along with Michael Dolski and John Buckley, of D-Day in History and Memory: The Normandy Landings in International Remembrance and Commemoration (2014).Faye Sayer is Assistant Professor in Heritage and History at University of Birmingham, UK. She has published major articles on community heritage and worked for some of the UK's most significant heritage organizations, including English Heritage, The Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Museum of London. She has been involved in public heritage projects around the world, including in the USA, Europe, and Australia, and she is also a well-known, former Time Team archaeologist.Michael Dolski is a historian with the Joint Prisoner of War-Missing in Action Accounting Command's Central Identification Laboratory in the USA. Together with Sam Edwards and John Buckley, he is editor of D-Day in History and Memory: The Normandy Landings in International Remembrance and Commemoration (2014).

Press Reviews:
"This methodological book can be welcomed within undergraduate courses on the history of film … [It] provides broad introductions to film history through the important lenses of nationalism, production, reception, commemoration, and historical memory." ―Jhistory

"Each chapter begins with a concise introduction, provides historical and historiographical context before moving into discussion of the particular film or television show, and often ends by exploring the specific material as a source … [This] volume succeeds in providing educators with insights to use in the classroom. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries." ―CHOICE

"An accessible overview of core issues and approaches in this area, making it likely to be of interest to a more general readership, as well as scholars looking for an introduction to the way histories of and on screen have been examined and re-examined by historians." ―Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

"Sam Edwards, Michael Dolski and Faye Sayer are to be congratulated for bringing together such a fascinating set of essays. It is well known that people often understand the past by what they see on the screen, but we often don't stop to consider the processes behind the persuasive effect of film and television. The contributors to this volume bring the complexity of the relationship between consumer and producer of history on screen to light in a lively and engaging manner." ―Mark Connelly, Professor of Modern British History, University of Kent, UK

"Today most people learn most of what they know about history from films and television. This thoughtful, wide-ranging and stimulating collection of essays explores in depth how and why this is so. An invaluable contribution to our understanding of an often misunderstood cultural phenomenon." ―Jeffrey Richards, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Lancaster University, UK

See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic