Behind the Silver Screen: 9 Books About the History of Hollywood 

Howard Hughes, the 20th century film director and producer, left his mark on the entertainment industry through his efforts to commodify male desire by objectifying and sexualizing women. Katherine Longworth draws from a plethora of archival sources and diaries to share the stories of the women who Hughes pursued and, subsequently, controlled. 

Seduction stands as a landmark work of Hollywood history, revealing the dark reality of male domination and the consequential abuse against actresses during the industry’s golden age—a legacy that remains relevant a century later. 

A sweeping chronicle of Hollywood’s earliest dynasty, Film’s First Family traces the meteoric rise and devastating fall of the Costellos. From patriarch Maurice Costello, cinema’s first matinee idol, to his daughter Helene, a trailblazer in all-talking films, the Costellos embodied both the glamour and the ruin of early stardom. 

Drawing on family archives and rare interviews, Terry Chester Shulman uncovers a story of artistry, addiction, and scandal that shaped Hollywood’s foundation and echoes through their modern descendant, Drew Barrymore.

Hollywood As Historian reveals how American cinema has shaped—and been shaped by—the nation’s politics, culture, and collective imagination. From wartime propaganda to social satire, films like The Birth of a Nation, Apocalypse Now, and Dr. Strangelove expose the power of images to define history itself. 

Blending literary and historical analysis, this study uncovers the hidden messages and cultural forces behind Hollywood’s most influential stories.

A vibrant cultural history of Hollywood’s dazzling rise and dramatic fall during the turbulent 1940s, when America’s dream factory turned on itself. As anticommunist paranoia and antitrust rulings shattered the studio system, the industry’s brightest stars struggled to survive the chaos. 

Fusing scandal, politics, and cinematic legend, Otto Friedrich reveals the real-life drama behind classics like Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity, and All About Eve.

Through the witty and insightful diaries of screenwriter Charles Brackett, film historian Anthony Slide opens a window into the heart of Golden Age Hollywood. From the creation of classics like Ninotchka, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Blvd. to the creative clashes that ended one of cinema’s greatest partnerships, Brackett’s firsthand accounts reveal an untold tale of ambition, artistry, and ego behind the silver screen. 

Richly annotated and filled with Hollywood lore, "It's the Pictures That Got Small" captures the brilliance and politics of the studio era at its peak.

An engaging tour of pre-Code Hollywood, revealing the daring depictions of women in American cinema. Before 1934, the year the censorship guidelines were instated, women on screen were shown acting in ways that many people assume only began after 1968, when “New Hollywood” began.

Complicated Women highlights the bold actresses of the pre-Code era, who provocatively pushed the boundaries of Hollywood. 

Molly Haskell examines the feminine role in American film, conceptualizing the figure of the woman as a projection and promotion of cultural myths about femininity.

Through a deep dive into the history of women in movies, Haskell reveals the ways in which Hollywood, throughout history, has contributed to ingraining the belief of female inferiority into consumers' minds. 

Film historian Robert S. Birchard delivers a richly detailed account of the director who transformed American cinema into grand spectacle. Drawing from DeMille’s personal archives and studio records, Birchard traces how the ambitious mastermind behind The Ten Commandments and Samson and Delilah revolutionized storytelling through scale and style. This definitive portrait captures how one director’s larger-than-life vision forever changed the way Hollywood tells its stories.

An exploration of the experimental shift in the American film industry during the forties, and the ways that those trends remain relevant in modern cinema. With vigor and wit, David Bordwell illuminates the significance of 1940s Hollywood in the contemporary shift towards complex, artistic storytelling.