A Short History of Film by Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is now in its fourth edition, offering an updated and expanded look at film history. This text’s timeline covers 1832-2024, including more contemporary discussions of AI as it has influenced the film industry.

This book is very much a textbook that can be handy in a film history course or for someone looking to read generally about the history of film. It offers a timeline of historical events to measure against advances in filmmaking, covering the nascent days of the industry, Hollywood studio system, world cinema, and the modern era. The more current inclusions of this text have their pros and cons; while it is worth mentioning AI in the context of film, among other disciplines, so much has already changed between 2024 (the latest year this book covers) and our present 2025.

A Short History of Film, Fourth Edition is available for purchase via Rutgers University Press.