Alfred Hitchcock, the "Master of Suspense," has been internationally recognized as a technical and stylistic innovator in the history of cinema. A Hitchcock Reader grows out of the editors’ desire as classroom teachers for a comprehensive anthology that can be used as a critical text in introductory or advanced courses devoted to the director’s films. On another level, the book provides Hitchcock scholars with an updated anthology representing the rich variety of critical response his films have evoked over the years.

Five sections make up A Hitchcock Reader – Taking Hitchcock Seriously, Hitchcock in Britain, Hitchcock in Hollywood, The Later Films, and Hitchcock and Film Theory: A Psycho Dossier – each of which has an introductory essay by Deutelbaum or Poague. The choice of essay by Deutelbaum or Poague. The choice of essays reflects the history of film criticism and theory over the past thirty years, moving from the initial auteurist claims for taking Hitchcock seriously to the more recent psychological feminist, and Marxist theories that have latterly been brought to bear on his films.

Hitchcock scholars, students of film criticism and theory, and film devotees, as well as anyone fascinated with the Hitchcock legacy, will find A Hitchcock Reader a provocative and stimulating anthology on the "Master of Suspense."

Marshall Deutelbaum teaches film in the English Department at Purdue University. He is the editor of "Image" on the Art and Evolution of the Film.

Leland Poague teaches theory and criticism in the English Department at Iowa State University. His most recent books are Howard Hawks and Film Criticism: A Counter Theory (with William Cadbury).