During the short history of the United States, war has marked the stages of the nation's journey, and imaginative literature has reflected and shaped an understanding of that journey. To study the war literature of the United States, then, is to study not only the representation of individuals at war but also creative renderings of the American experience. Until now, the treatment of American war literature has been handicapped by the absence of a single-source reference that can be the foundation for significant inquiry. This book addresses that need by presenting succinct, authoritative...

Blockbusters: A Reference Guide to Film Genres offers both film specialists and film fans an in-depth look at 12 popular genres of film. With a separate chapter dedicated to each of the 12 commonly acknowledged genres, the text provides readers with a list of defining characteristics for each genre; a focused analysis of the history of the genre with an understanding of the major influences responsible for its evolution, broken down by decades, era, or subgenre; and a bibliography of the major critical and historical sources available for further reading. Special attention is given...

George Kelly was a pioneer realist in the American theater who not only enjoyed popular and critical success, but also remained true to his own moral vision of theater as an art form despite what he considered vulgar influences that catered to the popular taste. Drawing upon the canon of Kelly's published plays as well as on manuscripts for four plays never before published or widely discussed by critics, this volume chronicles the evolution of this important craftsman and director from his earliest and most critically lauded examinations of America's upper middle-class family life to his...