COURSE OVERVIEW The battle over censoring content in modern mass media is a timely and challenging topic. One has to look no further than examining contemporary war coverage and political decision-making to understand the importance of critical analysis in asking what information is kept from the public and why it is banned from public discourse. Starting with the 1966 Star Trek TV series, the course begins with a discussion of contemporary battles of media content, setting the stage for a broader discussion of censorship battles that occurred in the media over the past century. The first films date back to the late 1890’s, and while quite tame by modern standards, many early motion pictures still found themselves the ob- ject of censorship during their earliest public presentations. This was the beginning of what can be referred to as the ‘Hollywood Censorship Wars’ – a century long battle that continues to this day. Because of the complex nature of banning media content, Censorship, Hollywood and American Culture exam- ines censorship from a variety of perspectives that are at the heart of both the social sciences and humanities: LEARNING OBJECTIVES An understanding of the history of censorship and media as they pertain to: Historic Institutions: The censorship of films was not done in a vacuum. Censorship was and remains a reflec- tion of America’s history over the past century. Censorship standards have continuously changed, with films produced and released