It’s So French! Hollywood, Paris, and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture

This book highlights the intense fascination France and America had with one another following World War II, and the resulting commerce between the French and American film industries. The love of France and the love of movies were manifested in films such as An American in Paris, the rise of Brigitte Bardot, and the Cannes Film Festival. The author describes how the marketing of Frenchness fostered internationalism and cultural hybridity in film culture and led to the birth of our global culture. Schwartz is a history, art history, and critical studies professor at the University of Southern California.

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Terri Sewell ’86 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, stands next to a portrait of civil rights leader John Lewis.
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November 2026

History is in Terri Sewell ’86’s hands; campus mental health culture; the two Princetons.