Fourteen years ago, having just finished my dissertation at a German university and returned to the States, I was encouraged by a number of colleagues to translate it and publish in America. I sent out the published German version to a number of presses, and received several rejections, because the readers could not find a niche for such an inter-disciplinary book. Accepted. However, one reviewer commented with the certainly only a self-absorbed academic can muster that the book contained no new information whatsoever. Meanwhwhile, the book became a bestseller in Germany in the academic press market, with every reviewer noting that this was a ground-breaking work in the field of German exile studies. I decided that if people wanted to read my book, they would have to learn German. In the meantime, I have also come to the realization that there are many colleagues in our field who are happy to eliminate their own competition or get pissy when a prospective author has failed to quote the reviewer's work. I don't think this has changed as the field has grown, but it has seemingly become more intense as film studies has expanded. I, myself, fell into the latter trap a long time ago in a published book review, and have regretted it ever since, because I lost the friendship of a colleague. Having moved between academia and the archive world, I have also observed that academia is a highly political arena, filled with back-stabbing and decision-making processes that are less than transparent, less than fair. Nevertheless, academia does have its rewards and I always encourage grad students to persevere. I do still believe that quality work will win out in the end, even if a topic seems less than fashionable. Jan-Christiopher Horak Filmmuseum, Munich ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite