Any book that shines a light on women in the film industry is one that I will definitely read. A bit academic in parts but I learned a lot that I didn’t already know.

Gives an insight into an area I am interested in but knew little about (women in the silent movie era). Sometimes reads more like an academic text but enjoyable nonetheless.

Many thanks go to Jane Gaines, University of IL Press, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. “ I like to use big words so I can sound more photosynthesis “I honestly don’t understand this book’s point. Was the author on amphetamines? This basically sums up my feelings on this book. Gaines likes to use her large vocabulary of nonsense words when simpler words would better communicate to her readers. I was under the impression there would be more discussion of the women of silent film, but alas, that was not the case. At one point Gaines asks herself, "what am I saying here?" Well if she doesn't know, I certainly don't, and I did my best to figure it out, This was mostly feminist theory and historical conjecture that could be presented to a very narrow, specific audience. I would not recommend it to anyone who is generally interested in the silent movie era.

Intriguing book. I had hoped it would be a pleasanter read, but it bogs down and gets a tad confusing at times. Still, it was interesting enough of a read about a subject I don't think has been explored enough. I love the old silent films! I had hoped to at least glean enough info to get started looking up women in the early industry on my own. sadly, much info has been lost or buried, so it was exciting to discover this book. Jane M. Gaines does deserve some credit for attempting to get the info she found out here for all of us. And there are good leads in it. More research likely needs to be done. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to any but real silent film fans, and even then, maybe they should check out this book in a library before purchase for their collection.

In May 2018 82 powerful females stood on the red carpet leading up to the Cannes Film Festival to highlight the fact that only 82 female directors have had films been selected to be screened at the prestigious fest. 1688 male directors have participated. When I saw that red carpet protest I remembered this book was in my NetGalley queue.

Gaines presents a time in history when it seems there were more women working in Hollywood. The book relies too much on the use of quotes to speculate about these comediennes, writers, and writers found success. While I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn so much about something that was previously unknown to me, I realize that this book may not be for everyone.

I was really intrigued going into this book as i love history books that put women back in the narrative. I found reading it to be quite dry but still interesting and progressed through it at a slower pace than i would like to admit to. I haven't read or seen much about early minus the odd mystery documentary about true crime and was enthralled by this.

We see the role of women increasingly being explained within the greater scope of universal history, and it is not surprising that these new information is being gathered by women themselves. Jane M. Gaines is looking into the area of motion pictures finding that women had been part of it even when this is barely mentioned (if it is at all) in film history books. This is a very short book, so it barely touches on the subject, but it does in a way that the readers feel prompted to explore it more. At about 297 pages, 200 of those pages belong to the actual text and the rest of them are devoted to tools such as an appendix, notes, a bibliography, and an index which users can use to expand more on this subject. I think this book will be a nice addition to any Women’s Studies and Film Classes as it may help readers find direction within a relatively new subject. I received a free copy via NetGalley.