Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera

This heavily illustrated volume features behind-the-scenes production shots and cast photos from current popular soaps alongside cult and long-running serials from the past. A specially created "family tree' of soap creators and their shows and interviews with leading writers, producers, actors, and directors further illuminate the birth and growth of this television staple. 140 illustrations, 60 in color.

Perhaps when a museum dedicates a three-month exhibit to the subject of soap operas, it's time to hang up our cultural hats and admit that we now occupy a world of overstimulated philistines. With that confession happily concluded, what could we want more than this gorgeous volume documenting the Museum of Television & Radio's soap opera show. Exhaustively chronicling the life of the soap opera, Worlds Without End covers the form from its roots in radio up to the late '90s. It not only reviews the histories of every soap series ever to air (up through late 1996), but also provides a general historical overview of the changes in subject matter, racial casting, and filming styles of the genre as a whole.