Haberski traces the role of films in American culture from nickelodeon amusements to the age of the blockbuster. He writes about how movies overcame the stigma attached to popular entertainment through such watershed events as the creation of the Museum of Modern Art's Film Library in the 1920s & the battle between critics Pauline Kael & Andrew Sarris in the 1960s. He concludes with a persuasive call for the re-emergence of film's place in a middle ground between art & entertainment.