This reassessment of Chateaubriand centres on the concept of change and his emotional suspicion of change, arising both from mistrust of his own inconstancy and from the suffering of the French Revolution. His aversion to change spread beyond politics to religion and literature, but conflicted with his intellectual fascination with historic change.

This study proposes a new definition of Frank Capra’s work as a cinema of identity, focusing on his reflection on American national identity as well as his own positioning as a US immigrant. With chapters on films such as , the book offers a fresh appraisal of this celebrated director and his often problematic films.