Hollywood's American Tragedies

Mandy Merck is Professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has edited the film and television journal Screen and the Channel 4 television series Out on Tuesday. Her books include Perversions: Deviant Readings, In Your Face: Nine Sexual Studies, The Art of Tracey Emin (co-edited with Chris Townsend) and a new collection of critical studies, America First: Naming the Nation in US Film.

• 1. An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser 2. A Monstrous Challenge to American Society - Sergei Eisenstein 3. A Courtroom Drama - Josef von Sternberg 4. Let the Audience See His Desire - George Stevens 5. Afterword

'Rigorously researched and told with a perceptive eye for human and cinematic detail, Mandy Merck's book provides a fascinating insight into behind the scenes Hollywood as well as a unique, historical, account of the creative processes and institutional problems involved in novel to screen adaptation.'Laura Mulvey