Sissela Bok, Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Addison—Wesley, 1998.
In her discussion of whether entertainment violence causes reallife violence, Bok begins with a historical examination of the popularity of gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome; moves on to summarize current research on the subject; and concludes with sections on censorship and other approaches to dealing with media violence.

Joanne Cantor, Mommy, I'm Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do to Protect Them. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998.
Cantor presents evidence that media violence harms children and offers guidelines for parents on how to shield their children from violent entertainment.

Carol J. Clover, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Clover challenges the idea that the main appeal of slasher films is for men who enjoy watching women being terrorized...