Böcker av Charles Musser

The Documentary Film Reader brings together an expansive range of writing by scholars, critics, historians, and filmmakers to provide a stimulating foundational text for students and others who want to undertake study of nonfiction film.

Presidential campaigns of the twenty-first century were not the first to mobilize an array of new media forms in efforts to gain electoral victory. In Politicking and Emergent Media, distinguished historian Charles Musserlooks at four US presidential campaigns during the long 1890s (18881900) as Republicans and Democrats deployed a variety of media forms to promote their candidates and platforms. New Yorkthe crucial swing state as well as the home of Wall Street, Tammany Hall, and prominent media industriesbecame the site of intense struggle as candidates argued over trade issues, currency standards, and a new overseas empire. If the city's leading daily newspapers were mostly Democratic as the decade began, Republicans eagerly exploited alternative media opportunities. Using the stereopticon (a modernized magic lantern), they developed the first campaign documentaries. Soon they were exploiting motion pictures, the phonograph, and telephone in surprising and often successful ways. Brimming with rich historical details, Musser's remarkable tale reveals the political forces driving the emergence of modern media.

Documenting the distinctive history of early American cinema, this study describes how motion pictures were developed and represented. It covers the creation and growth of the first US film companies, and the development of different styles of film production and distribution.