"Black City Cinema covers an impressive range of textual and historical ground to reveal "the city" as far more than a frequent setting or theme in Black films. Instead, Paula Massood demonstrates how the urban has functioned as a central organizing trope in the articulation of Black culture, progress, protest and subjectivity. Massood provides a much-needed innovative framework for understanding the complex development of African American film culture."—Jacqueline Stewart, Assistant Professor English, Cinema & Media Studies, African & African American Studies, University of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book, Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity
"Massood's interpretive discussions of the films are clearly written and convincing; she makes an important original point about the ending of Do the Right Thing, probably the most discussed African American film—and ending—of all time. She illuminates many other films, about which she writes with easy familiarity and complete authority."—J. Ronald Green, Professor, History of Art/Film Studies, Ohio State University and author of Straight Lick: The Cinema of Oscar Micheaux
"[Massood] supplies a new and very rich way of looking at and analyzing the films that she discusses. Highly recommended for academic libraries and large public libraries with a strong film or African American collection."—Library Journal