Essential General Film Histories
- The Story of Film – Mark Cousins
- Easy Riders, Raging Bulls – Peter Biskind
- Pictures at a Revolution – Mark Harris
- A History of Narrative Film – David A. Cook
Books on 1950s Cinema
- The Fifties: Transforming the Screen 1950–1959 – Edited by Peter Lev
- Hollywood in the Fifties – Foster Hirsch
- The American Cinema of the 1950s: Themes and Variations – Edited by Murray Pomerance
Books on 1960s Cinema
- The Sixties: 1960–1969 – Edited by James Morrison
- Hollywood Renaissance: The New Generation of Filmmakers and Their Works – Peter Biskind
- Pictures at a Revolution – Mark Harris
Books on 1970s Cinema
- Easy Riders, Raging Bulls – Peter Biskind
- Hollywood’s New Wave: 1970s Cinema and the End of the Studio System – Peter Krämer
- The Seventies: The Decade That Changed American Film Forever – William J. Palmer
Books on 1980s Cinema
- The Last Great American Picture Show: New Hollywood Cinema in the 1980s – Edited by Thomas Elsaesser, Alexander Horwath, Noel King
- American Cinema of the 1980s: Themes and Variations – Edited by Stephen Prince
- The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood – Edward Jay Epstein
Fun / Accessible Audience-Friendly Reads
- Oscar Wars – Michael Schulman
- Adventures in the Screen Trade – William Goldman
- Which Lie Did I Tell? – William Goldman
If you only read a few:
- 1950s: Hollywood in the Fifties – Foster Hirsch
- 1960s: Pictures at a Revolution – Mark Harris
- 1970s: Easy Riders, Raging Bulls – Peter Biskind 1980s: American Cinema of the 198
Historically Speaking 