I think Stephen Tropiano had a great time researching and writing this book, but it is unecessarily wordy, poor in style and structure, heavy on exclamation marks and intellectually sloppy.

Tropiano graces us with his personal opinions on the artistic merits of many of the films mentioned, but does not have the space (or inclination) for detailed criticism, reducing his reviews to a rather pointless sprinkling of adjectives.

The secondary sources that he does rely on, especially Time and the NYT, are interesting, and his choice to place exploitation cinema in the teen film context is helpful. The segment on fifties cinema is the most lucid.

The book has no index.