I've recently started heavily reading on cinema from various countries during the 60's but often times find myself lost in contextual references that might seem so clear to someone better read/studied than I am. So in short, I was wondering if anyone has a good recommendation of a book which covers the history leading up to the 60's. Say World War II forward. The countries I am most focused on is France and Japan.
Thank you!
Books on the topic of post-WWII history are plenty but for a better understanding of post-WII Europe and a good overview, what I recommend is Tony Judt's Postwar. A History of Europe since 1945, which covers the history of Europe from 1945 to 2005. It's far from perfect in some aspects but the parts giving you an overview from 1945 to the 1960s should get you up to speed on the necessary background knowledge for various references at least in the European context.
Japan is a different animal that is outside of my wheelhouse a bit but if you are looking for good books on post-war Japanese cinema, I'd recommend Broderick, M. (1996). Hibakusha cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the nuclear image in Japanese film and Davis, D. W. (1996). Picturing Japaneseness: Monumental style, national identity, Japanese film.