The auteur theory, of which Andrew Sarris was the leading American proponent, holds that artistry in cinema can be largely attributed to film directors, who while often working against the strictures of studios, producers, and scriptwriters, manage to infuse each film in their oeuvre with their personal style. The American Cinema, the bible of auteur studies, is a history of American film in the form of a lively guide to the work of two hundred film directors from Griffith, Chaplin, and von Sternberg, to Mike Nichols, Stanley Kubrick, and Jerry Lewis. Over twenty-five years after its initial publication, The American Cinema remains perhaps the most influential book ever written on the subject.