America in the 1950s was a place of sensational commercial possibility coupled with dark nuclear fears and conformist politics. Cold war hysteria and anti-communist witch hunts influenced a culture already falling under the spell of suburbia, television and a world of luxury goods.

A guide to various films made in the United States. It includes such films as "Citizen Kane", "The Jazz Singer", "All Quiet on the Western Front", "The Birth of a Nation", and "Boyz n the Hood", "Blacksmith Scene" (1893), "The Blue Bird" (1918), "The Docks of New York" (1928), "Star Theatre" (1902), and "A Bronx Morning" (1914).

The authors outline how multi-modality theory can be used to analyze texts which employ multiple semiotic modes and media, in such a way that a balanced consideration is given to the characteristics of each mode, how they integrate, and how they distribute textual functions between them.

A vertiginous and dazzling spin on the classic quest story by 'far the most imaginative novelist in Britain' (Independent)