In Buster Keaton's Silent Shorts: 1920-1923, James L. Neibaur and Terri Niemi provide a film-by-film assessment of Buster Keaton's short films produced in the early 1920s. The authors discuss the significance of each short to the Keaton filmography, as well as each film's importance to cinema. Offering a clear and in-depth perspective on 19 films, the authors explain what makes these shorts effective and why they're funny.