History of the movies and cinema

My favorite general history is The Story Of Cinema by David Shipman.



The Parade's Gone By by Kevin Brownlow is a very readable introduction to Hollywood's silent era, with great photos.



Brownlow made my all time favorite documentary series, Hollywood, about silent movies:

Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Film (Watch on YouTube)



Brownlow made many other superb documentaries on film history, about Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and John Ford, among others

Universal Horror looks at the great horror movies this studio turned out in the 30s: Dracula, Frankenstein, etc...



Inside Warner Brothers by Rudy Behlmer details the day to day inner workings of a studio via company memos. Sounds dull but is anything but.



My favorite movie star memoir is The Moon's A Balloon by David Niven. This book is hilarious even if you have no interest in classic movies.



I have many others I could recommend but these should be enough to get you started. Let me know what you think of them.