McAdams provides the first extensive synthesis of American and world history with the war film genre. He demonstrates how the war film reflects the currents of history of the time with actual events portrayed and in dramatic plot points.

Beginning with ^IThe Birth of a Nation^R in 1915, McAdams weaves the development of Hollywood, the larger socioeconomic and political events of the time with the way war was and is portrayed in American film. In wartime he shows the struggle between propaganda and patriotism on the one side and the desire of many directors and film people to portray war as they came to know it on the other. He concludes with ^IPearl Harbor^R and Hollywood's search for historical film blockbusters. A fascinating survey for film and American military history scholars and students as well as the general public interested in American film in context.