30 years from now, this book could be an important and remarkably detailed snapshot of this cultural moment, a record of the mess and the way film has played a role in this era.

Andrew Schopp, Professor of English, Nassau Community College, USA

This book makes a significant contribution to how the discourses, rhetoric, and legislation generated by the Trump presidency impacted film. There are few other books on Trump-era cinema that examine film in the way that McSweeney does, making this book timely and innovative.

Frances Pheasant-Kelly, Reader in Film and Screen Studies, University of Wolverhampton, UK

McSweeney's book and his astute critical analysis make an important contribution to the field of research that explores how American film and television has engaged with the presidencies of Donald Trump and the surrounding culture.

Karen McNally, editor of American Television during a Television Presidency (2022), UK

This is an excellent book. Aspects of the films discussed sit seamlessly with appreciations of Donald Trump, his presidency, and the wildly divergent and controversial social fabric he's created in America during the 2010s and '20s. McSweeney's tremendous achievement is to be able to mirror and match those two aspects, the political and cinematic, while working in multi- and interdisciplinary ways to show how cinema works as a reflection of society's feats and foibles. Overall, Battleground is a terrific and important intervention into contemporary film studies.

Ian Scott, Professor of American Film and History, University of Manchester, UK