Reforming Hollywood: Protestants and the American Film Industry

FAIN: FB-54222-09

William D. Romanowski
Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4301)

Although Protestantism was close to America's cultural center well into the twentieth century, there is no single book-length treatment of the interaction between Protestants and the film industry. The correction of this oversight makes the university press book proposed here groundbreaking: It presents an original historical analysis of the roles played by film and religion in a democratic society. Drawing on personal interviews and previously unexamined primary sources, this interdisciplinary investigation explores the struggle of two dynamic American institutions over the possession of cultural power and the function of entertainment. By uncovering forgotten but formative events and shedding new light on familiar accounts, this seminal study will expand the horizon of and reframe the discourse about film history. My book will have permanent value across a number of disciplines in the humanities and will find an audience among scholars and generally educated readers.

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