In his Teachers Guide to Early and Silent Cinema, Keith Withall provides both a comprehensive chronology of the period until the birth of sound but also a series of detailed case studies on the key films from this period some well known (including Griffiths The Birth of a Nation, Eisensteins Strike and Chaplins The Kid), some perhaps less familiar (including Murnaus The Last Laugh and Oscar Micheauxs Within Our Gates). As well as covering in detail the major film-making figures and nations of the period, the author also offers insights into the industry in less well documented areas. Throughout, the films and film-makers are placed in the context of rapid world-wide industrial and social change.