Cohan is a highly regarded writer, having written many books including books include  (1988, co-authored with Linda M. Shires),  (1993, co-edited with Ina Rae Hark),  (1997, co-edited with Ina Rae Hark), (1997),ÌýÌý(2001),ÌýÌý(2005),ÌýÌý(2008)ÌýÌý(2010),ÌýHollywood by Hollywood (2018), and Routledge Film Guidebooks: Hollywood MusicalsÌý(2019).

His essays have appeared in Camera Obscura, Screen, and Cinema Journal as well as many anthologies. Since retiring he has written essays on Danny Kaye’s queer persona, The Boys in the Band, Billy Wilder’s apartment plots, Marilyn Monroe biopics, the cold war cycle of musicals set in Paris, Bob Hope’s comedian musicals, Judy Garland as a cult star, Esther Williams’s Latin lovers, Queer Hollywood Musicals of the 1940s, the 1937 A Star Is Born, and Fosse/Verdon. At present he is starting a new book that examines the connections between film noir and the woman’s film of the 1940s and 1950s. His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean.

He was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement in 2006 and the Graduate School’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education in 2014. He was President of the Society of Cinema Studies from 2015-2017.