Histories on Screen

What can historical films and period television tell us about history? How reliable are these sources? How, as historians, should we 'read' a film? This second edition of Histories on Screen gets to the heart of these questions and more in a comprehensive volume which greatly enhances our understanding of the relationship between film/television and history.

The book begins with a theoretical 'Thinking about Film' section that explores the ways in which film and television 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 provides diverse case studies which put this theory into practice. It explores vital areas of historical analysis in the process, including gender, class, race, war, genocide, sexuality, propaganda, national identity and memory. 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 that features prominently throughout the text.

This new edition includes six brand new chapters exploring the following key topics:

* Depictions of women in period dramas

* Black British history on film

* LGBTQ+ history and documentary film production

* The Holocaust, film and post-genocidal trauma

* US Civil Rights and television

* The Hollywood Western and the Cold War