SOURCE: "Cultural History Written with Lightning: The Significance of The Birth of a Nation," American Quarterly, Vol. XII, No. 3, Fall, 1960, pp. 347-57.

In the following essay, Carter points out thematic flaws in The Birth of a Nation which prevent the film from being an artistic success.

On February 20, 1915, David Wark Griffith's long film, The Clansman, was shown in New York City. One of the spectators was Thomas Dixon, the author of the novel from which it was taken, who was moved by the power of the motion picture to shout to the wildly applauding spectators that its title would have to be changed. To match the picture's greatness, he suggested, its name should be The Birth of a Nation. Only by a singular distortion of meaning could the film be interpreted as the story of a country's genesis; the birth it did herald was of an American industry...