American Film and the Culture Wars: Battleground in the Trump Era is an exploration of the relationship between American cinema and what many have referred to as the “Trump era”, the “Trump age”, or even the “Trump phenomenon”.

This book contends that American cinema offers an insight into this fractious period and emerged as one of the primary battlegrounds on which a war of interpretation was fought, a frontline in what many refer to as the “culture wars”. This resulted in a body of films which should not be regarded as disposable entertainment, but rather as visceral cultural artefacts which reflect, engage with, and have even been able to influence the tumultuous period in a range of palpable ways. Films discussed include: Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Hate U Give (2018), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), The Shape of Water (2017), Don't Worry Darling (2022), among others.

Across six theoretically informed but accessible chapters, McSweeney interrogates how American film emerged as a striking manifestation of the political and historical moment in which they were formed: engaging with a broad tapestry of social movements (Black Lives Matter [2013-], Me Too [2017-], and Times Up [2018-]), genres (superhero, horror, action, science fiction film) and key issues, debates and events (gun control, abortion, religion), revealing that it is still the cinematic medium which provides a frame of reference for how we understand and comprehend the world, as much as if not more than it has ever done.