Pt. I. Sefining transitions: revision and debate ; 1. Systematizing the electric message / Tom Gunning ; 2. "To here from modernity" / Charlie Keil ; 3. The periodization of the early cinema / Ben Brewster ; 4. Feature films, variety programs, and the crisis of the small exhibitor / Ben Singer
pt. II. The transitional screen: new genres, cultural shifts ; 5. What happened in the transition? / Jacqueline Stewart ; 6. The "imagined community" of the western, 1910/1913 / Richard Abel ; 7. The Coney Island comedies / Lauren Rabinovitz ; 8. Travelogues and early nonfiction film / Jennifer Lynn Peterson
pt. III. Industry in transition: changing institutions and audiences ; 9. "Where development has just begun" / J.A. Lindstrom ; 10. A house divided / Scott Curtis ; 11. Not harmless entertainment / Lee Grieveson ; 12. Cinema under the sign of money / Constance Balides ; 13. The menace of the movies / Roberta E. Pearson ; "It's a long way to filmland" / Shelley Stamp.