The Catholic Church and Hollywood

During the 1930s, the Catholic Church in the US was engaged in a metaphorical "war" against the increasingly modern and secular values of the American public. Alexander McGregor offers a detailed account of how the Church, feeling itself to be under siege, used media - and particularly cinema - to reach out to Americans. The 1930s were the "golden age" for Hollywood, and the Church saw the film industry as an opportunity to engender a pro-Catholic social moral code among the US population. McGregor examines the ways in which the American Catholic Church sought to directly influence film production through its involvement with censorship bodies such as the Legion of Decency, and through Catholics in positions of influence within Hollywood itself. This is a vital new contribution to the history of American cinema and religion, as well as American culture and social history.

Alexander McGregor obtained his PhD from the School of History at the University of East Anglia, UK in 2005. He is now a teacher of History in Bruxelles.