Book excerpt: "Silent Film: A Very Short Introduction covers the full span of the silent era, touching on films and filmmakers from every corner of the globe, and focusing on how the public experienced these films. Silent film evolved during three main periods; early, transitional, and classical. First seen as a technological attraction, it rapidly grew into a medium for telling longer stories. Silent film was genuinely global, with countries all around the world using cinema to tell stories and develop their own industries. Sound was introduced to cinema in the late 1920s, but with elements of silent film still around today, there is an argument for it never having ended"--