This extensively revised second edition offers a comprehensive introduction to Hollywood cinema, providing a fascinating account of the cultural and aesthetic significance of the world's most powerful film industry. * Provides a fascinating account of Hollywood history. * Examines the cultural and aesthetic significance of the world's most powerful film industry. * Explores and interprets Hollywood cinema in history and in the present, in theory and in practice. * Extensively revised and updated with new chapter features including box sections, further reading lists, Notes and Queries, and chapter summaries.