The Routledge Companion to Film History is an indispensable guide for anyone studying film history for the first time. The approach taken presents a substantial and readable overview of the field and provides students with a tool of reference that will be valuable throughout their studies.
The volume is divided into two parts. The first is a set of eleven essays that approaches film history around the following themes:

• History of the moving image
• Film as art and popular culture
• Production process
• Evolution of sound
• Alternative modes: experimental, documentary, animation
• Cultural difference
• Film’s relationship to history

The second is a critical dictionary that explains concepts, summarizes debates in film studies, defines technical terms, describes major periods and movements, and discusses historical situations and the film industry. The volume as a whole is designed as an active system of cross-references: readers of the essays are referred to dictionary entries (and vice versa) and both provide short bibliographies that encourage readers to investigate topics.