Review

""This fascinating study helps us to understand the way American society evolved from general acceptance of movie censorship to a strong rejection of it.""The author shows how Americans began to recognize that filmmakers, like the creators of books and newspapers, ought to enjoy the right of free speech under terms of the First Amendment. Wittern-Keller's well-researched investigation of the fight against censorship makes an important contribution to U.S. social, legal, and political history." -- Robert Brent Toplin" --

""The author's research is prodigious and fills a significant gap in the field. All who are engaged in this field will have to incorporate her findings into their stories of movie censorship... This reference is needed and will be much appreciated for decades to come. A heroic effort." -- Francis C. Couvares" --

""Wittern-Keller coolly investigates the tension between individual rights and government restraint in the history of American film." --Choice" --

""Wittern-Keller's book is a welcome addition to the scholarship on movie censorship, fills a significant, an important gap in the literature, and will be the baseline reference work on the history of state censorship." --George Potamianos, The Journal of American History" --

About the Author

Laura Wittern-Keller is visiting assistant professor of history and public policy at the University at Albany (SUNY) and the recipient of the New York State Archives Award for Excellence in Research. She also lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband.