“Anna Everett moves African American film criticism and commentary from the margins to the center in this innovative, imaginative, and original book. Superbly researched and engagingly written, Returning the Gaze shows us the necessity of placing race at the center of the history of the American cinema, while at the same time making it clear that any adequate understanding of ... Read moreAfrican American identity needs to acknowledge the centrality of cinema to the practices and processes of U.S. racial formation.”—George Lipsitz, author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness and Time Passages “Everett’s fine book makes an important contribution to our understanding of black cinema, from production to journalism and criticism, as a resistance practice representing every orientation of black culture, from the popular to the political and aesthetic. This one is ‘must’ reading for all interested in black cinema, its issues, and its critical discourse.”—Ed Guerrero, New York University Compelling and of great critical importance, Returning the Gaze makes a major contribution to film studies.”—Dana Polan, University of Southern California Show Less