Table of Contents:
  • To the Top
  • Chaplin, the Early Films, and the Rise to Stardom
  • The Rough-Edged Diamond: Charlie at Keystone
  • "Chaplinitis": Charlie at Essanay
  • The Genteel Tradition and the "Vulgar" Charlie
  • Romance and Pathos: The "Refining" of Charlie
  • The Perils of Popularity
  • Chaplin's Star Image in the Mutual Period
  • The Further "Refining" of Charlie
  • Chaplin the "Slacker"?
  • The First Marriage and Divorce
  • Troubles at First National
  • At the Top: Charlie and the 1920s
  • From The Kid to The Gold Rush
  • Finishing Up at First National
  • Interviews and Writings in the Early 1920s
  • Branching Out: A Woman of Paris
  • Creating an Epic: The Gold Rush
  • Cultivating the Intelligentsia
  • Struggling through the Twenties
  • Chaplin and Lita Grey
  • Mixed Reviews: The Press and the Second Divorce
  • The Burdens of Being Funny: The Circus
  • Charlie and the Threat of the Talkies
  • Farewell to the Twenties: City Lights
  • The Challenge of Progressive Politics
  • The Depression, the World Tour, and Modern Times
  • A Comedian Sees
  • and Comments on
  • the World
  • Critics, Artists, and Depression America
  • Chaplin's Public Politics before 1936
  • Modern Times: Production, Publicity, and Promotion
  • Modern Times: Political Ambiguity and Critical Response
  • The Popular Front, The Great Dictator, and the Second Front, 1936-1942
  • The Popular Front and American Antifascism
  • The Great Dictator: Preparation, Production, and Promotion
  • The Great Dictator and the Aesthetic Contract.