This detailed study of the workings of the American film industry during the 1930s looks at Hollywood as an agent of Roosevelt's New Deal, and the attempts film moguls and moviemakers made to withstand the political turmoil that threatened to engulf America. It illustrates how the studios and their products, from the glamour of MGM stars and escapist musicals to gangster movies and Westerns, even the radical films of the Warner studios, helped foster ideas of social unity and patriotism.

This detailed study of the workings of the American film industry during the 1930s looks at Hollywood as an agent of Roosevelt's New Deal, and the attempts film moguls and moviemakers made to withstand the political turmoil that threatened to engulf America. It illustrates how the studios and their products, from the glamour of MGM stars and escapist musicals to gangster movies and Westerns, even the radical films of the Warner studios, helped foster ideas of social unity and patriotism.