Since its inception, cinema has been shaped as a new public sphere, reflecting important social changes at the turn of the century, which were manifested not only in screen works, but also in spectator practices. This book by University of Chicago professor Miriam Hansen (1949–2011) explores the close connection between the rise of early American film audiences and the transformation of business and private life. In the first part of the study, the author, using the Babylon metaphor in the title, shows how cinema, in the process of creating “spectatorship,” solved the problem of integrating ethnically, socially and gender diverse groups into a single consumer culture. The second part is devoted to a detailed analysis of Griffith’s film “Intolerance”, from which it is customary to begin the modern relationship between the film and the viewer. In the third part, the author turns to the phenomenon of the movie star using the example of Rodolfo Valentino, analyzing his cult in the context of the commercial interests of Hollywood and the new feminine subculture.