Performing arts Books

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSuperb essays that should enlighten both the common reader and the film critic. The European LegacyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction to Volume Two, by Lina Khatib Storytelling and Cultural Politics Stories as Social Critique: The Vision of China in the Films of Jia Zhangke, by Konrad Ng Taonga (cultural treasures): Reflections on Maori Storytelling in the Cinema of Aotearoa/New Zealand, by Hester Joyce The Minjung Cultural Movement and Korean Cinema of the 1980s: The Influence of Minjung Theatre and Art in Lee Jang-ho's Films, by Nam Lee On How to Tell a Revolution: Alsino y el condor, by Robert Dash and Patricia Varas Storytelling and Postcolonialism Telling Stories About Unknown People in Faraway Countries: U.S. Travelogues About Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s, by Isabel Arredondo Memory and Tradition as a Postcolonial Response in the Films of Kyrgyzstan's Aktan Abdykalykov, by Willow Mullins 'Postcolonial Beaux' Stratagem: Singing and Dancing Back with Carmen in African Films, by Yifen T. Beus Telling Women's Stories Heard/Symbolic Voices: The Nouba of the Women of Mont Chenoua and Women's Film in the Maghreb, by Zahia Smail Salhi Women's Stories and Public Space in Iranian New Wave Film, by Anna Dempsey Cinematic Images of Women at a Time of National(ist) Crisis: The Case of Three Yugoslav Films, by Dijana Jelaca History as Science Fiction: Women of Action in Hong Kong Cinema, by Sasa Vojkovic Storytelling and Religio-Cultural Encounters Clouds of Unknowing: Buddhism and Bhutanese Cinema, by Shohini Chaudhuri and Sue Clayton Claiming Space, Time and History in The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, by Darrell Varga Qissa and Popular Hindi Cinema, by Anjali Gera Roy Index

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Book SynopsisThe behind-the-scenes story of Hollywood’s struggle with Nazism before the outbreak of war.Trade ReviewWith a rich blend of art and politics, Doherty brings to light the story of how Hollywood handled Nazism during Hitler's reign. Recommended. Library Journal (starred review) Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 tracks the advance of fascism, and the movie industry's reaction on screen and in private... [A] fascinating work. -- Kate Muir The Times (London) A lively study of Hollywood's relationship to Nazism. -- Emily Greenhouse Culture Desk blog, The New Yorker Wide-ranging and brightly written. -- Dave Kehr The New York Times Book Review A lively, detailed account and a worthy successor to his books Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934 and Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration. -- Philip Kemp Times Higher Education A remarkable and stimulating account of an important part of movie history and American history. -- Rob Hardy The Commercial Dispatch [Doherty's] books on American cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s are essential reading: Pre-Code Hollywood and Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen & the Production Code Administration... No one has told this story in as comprehensive or convincing a fashion. As always, Doherty's work is well researched. -- Clayton Koppes Cineaste A witty writer familiar with Hollywood history and manners, Doherty places the studios' craven behavior within a general account of the political culture of the movies in the thirties and forties. -- David Denby The New Yorker [A] riveting read. -- Merve Emre The Millions Mr. Doherty fully understands the studio system and how it juggled interference from its own internal agency, the Production Code Administration. He doesn't deny the greed and fear that motivated studios, but he puts the behavior in context. -- Jeanine Basinger Wall Street Journal Meticulously researched and captivating. -- Noah Isenberg Times Literary Supplement Doherty masterfully describes how the movie industry, mostly headed by Jews, ultimately came together at a time when the nation needed unity... The book is crisply written, well documented. -- Burton Boxerman St. Louis Jewish Light Doherty's well researched Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939 throws fascinating new light on America and the rise of Nazism. -- Philip French The Observer [A] wide-ranging, scrupulously researched and highly entertaining study. -- Philip French Sight and Sound [A] judicious and comprehensive history of the period. -- Mark Horowitz Tablet Doherty provides a more nuanced and accurate account of Hollywood's relationship with Hitler, and his book should be considered the authority on the subject. -- M. Todd Bennett American Historical Review Hollywood and Hitler is an excellent addition to Doherty's impressive oeuvre, well worth reading for its important insights, strong narrative, and mastery of the period. -- David Welky Journal of American Studies Doherty's book is well documented and brings together a corpus made of lesser-known, yet signifying feature films. -- Yves Laberge Journal of American Culture Thorough and elegantly written. -- Saverio Giovacchini Journal of American History Doherty brings fresh eyes and a witty pen to re-examine the business of US cinema production and distribution in the turbulent pre-war years... A valuable contribution to scholarship on the subject. -- Vincent O'Donnell Media International Australia An important contribution to the history of Hollywood's response to the Nazi efforts to censor US films targeted for export to Germany... Highly recommended. Choice Vividly written, academically unpretentious, and indispensable for historians and students of film. -- Bernard F. Dick American Studies [Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939] is painstakingly researched and offers film historians, as well as historians of World War II, a rich, insightful, and engaging portrait of an industry and a world in turmoil. -- Brian Faucette Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television Meticulously researched... [Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939] provides an informed backdrop to scholars looking to contextualize and analyze individual films from the era. -- Rochelle Miller Film & History A tour de force of film history, deftly weaving together many strands of Hollywood and world history to explain Hollywood's vexed and often vexing relationship to the rise of Nazism. -- Leslie Fishbein American Jewish History Doherty offers a compelling prequel to his own Projections of War: Hollywood,American Culture,and World War II and an indispensible contribution to the emerging body of work on the relationships between Hollywood and Berlin in the 1930s. -- Hannah Graves Film Quarterly Top notch, exhaustively researched film history book by a superb historian. Hollywood ProgressiveTable of ContentsPrologue: Judenfilm! 1. Hollywood-Berlin-Hollywood "The Hitler Anti-Jew Thing" The Aryanization of American Imports The Aryanization of Hollywood's Payroll 2. Hitler, "A Blah Show Subject" The Disappearance of Jews qua Jews The Unmaking of The Mad Dog of Europe "What about the Jews The Story of a Hollywood Girl in Naziland: I Was a Captive of Nazi Germany (1936) 3. The Nazis in the Newsreels "The Swastika Man" "Naziganda" 4. The Hollywood Anti-Nazi League "Unheil Hitler!" The Politics of Celebrity 5. Mussolini Jr. Goes Hollywood 6. The Spanish Civil War in Hollywood "Censored Pap!" Walter Wanger's Blockade (1938) Loyalist Red Screen Propaganda 7. Foreign Imports "German Tongue Talkers" Anti-Nazism in the Arty Theaters "Nazi Scrammers" 8. "The Blight of Radical Propaganda" Trouble from Rome Over Idiot's Delight (1939) Trouble from Berlin Over The Road Back (1937) Trouble from Washington with the Dies Committee 9. Inside Nazi Germany with the March of Time 10. "Grim Reaper Material" History Unreels "The Present Persecutions in Germany" 11. There Is No Room for Leni Riefenstahl in Hollywood 12. "The Only Studio with Any Guts" The Warner Bros. Patriotic Shorts The Activist Moguls "The Picture That Calls a Swastika a Swastika!": Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) 13. Hollywood Goes to War Epilogue: The Motion Picture Memory of Nazism Thanks and Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Rising Sun and Divided Land Cinematic Japan and Korea: A Long and Turbulent History Im Kwon-taek and the March of Time Film Analysis: Chihwaseon Fukasaku Kinji and Beginning With a Bomb Film Analysis: Battle Royale Lee Chang-dong and the Trauma of History Film Analysis: Secret Sunshine The Legacy of a Violent Man: Kitano Takeshi Film Analysis: Hana-bi Twisted Histories: Park Chan-wook and the Legacy of Personal Trauma Film Analysis: Oldboy The Lone Woman: Kawase Naomi Film Analysis: Shara Bad Guy: Kim Ki-duk Film Analysis: Bad Guy Miike Takashi: Welcome to the Dark Side Film Analysis: Visitor Q Conclusion Bibliography Filmography and Further Viewing Suggestions Key Electronic Resources for Japanese and Korean Film Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDeftly, Gerd Gemunden combines perceptive close readings of select films with sharp archival investigation to show how some key movies of classical Hollywood came-in often fraught manner-to engage with the evils of fascism. By understanding cinema as a complex negotiation over political meanings, from production to final results onscreen, this volume represents a major contribution to the literature on the Hollywood emigres and their cultural work. -- Dana Polan, New York University Continental Strangers is a necessary and most compelling pendant to Thomas Doherty's Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939. Indeed, these two recent releases provide an impressive ensemble. Doherty depicts how American film studios reacted to Nazi terror in both direct and less overt ways. Gemunden fills out the picture in a series of intriguing case studies devoted to filmmakers who fled Hitler and settled in Southern California. Sensitive to the variety of ways in which German film artists experienced emigration and exile, Gemunden's book remains admirably attentive to the historical determinations and textual shapes of Hollywood's anti-Nazi features. -- Eric Rentschler, Harvard University A lucid and comprehensive account of German filmmakers in American exile, this book also offers a poetics of displacement and alienation. It adds another chapter to the story about Hitler and Hollywood and contributes to a deeper historical understanding of political cinema at a moment of crisis. -- Anton Kaes, University of California, Berkeley A welcome and well-researched survey. Cineaste Gemunden's work... makes a valuable contribution to film history... Journal of American History ...a richly contextualized and nuanced reading of exile cinema... American Historcial Review A most important book. -- Clayton Dillard Slant MagazineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part I: Parallel Modernities 1. A History of Horror 2. Tales of Urgency and Authenticity Part II: Hitler in Hollywood 3. Performing Resistance, Resisting Performance 4. History as Propaganda and Parable Part III: You Can't Go Home Again 5. Out of the Past 6. The Failure of Atonement Epilogue Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPhilosophers on Film from Bergson to Badiou is an anthology of writings on cinema and film by many of the major thinkers in continental philosophy. The book presents a selection of fundamental texts, each introduced by the editor, Christopher Kul-Want, who places the philosophers within a historical and intellectual framework.Trade ReviewAny film lover in or freshly out of school may just have their life changed with this little diddy. * CriterionCast *Philosophers on Film is an important collection, especially for students first breaking into film studies or scholars who desire quick reference to diverse groundbreaking texts. -- ANDREW KETTLER, University of South Carolina * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *The contemporary philosophers included in this anthology have been prominent in Anglophone discourse in the humanities over the last twenty years, yet their contributions to film theory have not been addressed in a systematic fashion. Philosophers on Film from Bergson to Badiou offers a coherent framework for approaching this diverse group of philosophers, and the summaries of the arguments of the individual selections are informed, accurate, and accessible. This anthology promises to serve an important function in cinema studies. -- Ronald Bogue, University of GeorgiaAn essential collection that gathers the most important works, both classical and contemporary, on film and philosophy. It covers all of the field’s complex configurations from the continental tradition: philosophy of film, philosophy in film, as well as film as philosophy. No serious film philosopher will be able to leave home without it. -- John Ó Maoilearca, Kingston University, LondonThis important and comprehensive collection offers a complex and carefully chosen series of texts that set out the difficult and urgent relations between film and philosophy, as well as between popular cultures and critical thinking over the last century. Christopher Kul-Want's introduction is a subtle and definitive guide through these crucial issues of modern culture that will enable the reader to find their own place among them. -- Adrian Rifkin, Goldsmiths College, University of LondonTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Creative Evolution, by Henri Bergson2. The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, by Walter Benjamin3. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, by Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer4. The Film and the New Psychology, by Maurice Merleau-Ponty5. On Contemporary Alienation or the End of the Pact with the Devil, by Jean Baudrillard6. The Looking Glass, from the Other Side, by Luce Irigaray7. Acinema, by Jean-François Lyotard8. Cinema I: The Movement-Image, by Gilles Deleuze9. Cinema II: The Time-Image, by Gilles Deleuze10. The Malady of Grief: Duras, by Julia Kristeva11. Notes on Gesture, by Giorgio Agamben12. “In His Bold Gaze My Ruin Is Writ Large”, by Slavoj Žižek13. And Life Goes On: Life and Nothing More, by Jean-Luc Nancy14. Contesting Tears, the Hollywood Melodrama of the Unknown Woman, by Stanley Cavell15. From One Manhunt to Another: Fritz Lang Between Two Ages, by Jacques Rancière16. Cinema as Philosophical Experimentation, by Alain Badiou17. Cinematic Time, by Bernard Stiegler18. The Miracle of Analogy: or, The History of Photography, Part 1, by Kaja SilvermanSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisJoseph McBride analyzes Ernst Lubitsch’s films in rich detail in the first in-depth critical study to consider the full scope of his work in both his native and adopted lands. McBride explains the “Lubitsch Touch,” shows how the director challenged American attitudes toward romance and sex, and offers revealing insights into his working methods.Trade Review[This] excellent, authoritative book . . . is chockful of cultivated insights. -- Phillip Lopate * New York Review of Books *Named the best silent film book of 2019. * Silent London *McBride delivers his best book yet . . . A nuanced, thorough look at an important artist and his art. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *In How Did Lubitsch Do It? Joseph McBride has written a love letter to a filmmaker . . . McBride’s detailed appreciations could serve, ideally, as a viewer’s companion to the many layers of Lubitsch’s art. -- Geoffrey O'Brien * Wall Street Journal *Film historian Joseph McBride's tome How Did Lubitsch Do It? makes a comprehensive and enthusiastic . . . case for [Lubitsch]'s importance. * New York Times Book Review *Though some early Lubitsch films are lost, McBride rescues the director's neglected and underrated reputation, securing his legacy with critical insights and sound scholarship in one of the few full-length appreciations of the artist. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *[McBride] reacquaints readers with the director’s genius. . . . Will be a great companion for those interested in underexplored comedies in film history. * Washington Post *There is no better time than now for a comprehensive study of Lubitsch like McBride’s. . . McBride does much-needed work in showing how Lubitsch was one of the consummate artists America was ever lucky enough to claim as her own. * San Francisco Chronicle *How Did Lubitsch Do It? is one of the most indispensable film books I’ve ever read, not only a rigorously researched and considered biography and an illuminating analysis of Lubitsch’s technique but a broader study of how culture affects filmmaking and vice versa. * Filmmaker Magazine *Revered film historian Joseph McBride's new book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?, explores this master of modern comedy in scintillating detail. * LA Weekly *A compelling case for Lubitsch as an unequaled master of elegant, sophisticated entertainments marked by sly innuendo and adult sensibilities that have stood the test of time. * DGA Quarterly *Critical study. * Weekly Standard *A critical study. * Wellesnet *A critical study. * Mass Live *Nine well-informed chapters written in McBride's familiar, accessible style. -- Matthew Sorrento * Film International *[A] fine book. * The Sydney Morning Herald *A book well worth recommending. It is enjoyable, provocative and thorough. * World Socialist Web Site *In this delightfully informative book McBride is unabashedly nostalgic for the urbane art of concealing art that Lubitsch mastered in The Shop around the Corner and in so many of his other films. -- David Weir * Athenaeum Review *How Did Lubitsch Do It? is a critical [and] masterful study. -- Michel Ciment * Positif *Joseph McBride’s study of Lubitsch matches the breadth and range of his incomparable work on Welles and Ford. Reading it, it is impossible not to want to see each of the director’s greatest films again or for the first time – readers will be driven straight to seek out not only the repertory standards but the silents, the musicals, and the German films. It is especially gratifying to see McBride apply his supple understanding of the intricacies of Lubitsch’s sexual politics to the paradoxes lurking for contemporary viewers, exploring how the films play both against and into feminist readings. McBride doesn’t shy from such explorations, but never leaps to premature conclusions. The book is an act of devotion matched to the heart of its subject. -- Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless BrooklynMcBride subtly and concretely describes the change in cinematic tastes over the course of a century. We who love cinema and Lubitsch should be grateful to have such a book in our lifetime, and it will be the definitive work for years to come. -- Molly Haskell, author of From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the MoviesErnst Lubitsch’s work has never needed reappraisal more than it does today, and McBride is just the writer for the job. As usual, he mobilizes formidable research and passionate sympathy to probe a great director’s many sides. We see Lubitsch the ethnic comedian, the exile, the romantic, the sardonic satirist, the sly provocateur, the moralist, the supremely confident master of technique. Above all, we see an artist who poured into film after film his keen sensitivity to the vagaries of love and his tolerant wisdom about the ways of the world. -- David Bordwell, University of Wisconsin-MadisonIt’s a wonderful book on a wonderful picturemaker! The work and detail and time put into it — just extraordinary. Superb! A great service to the public, bringing this unique and brilliant director back to the public's attention. This splendid work does real justice to its subject. -- Peter BogdanovichAlthough Ernst Lubitsch is one of the wittiest, most entertaining, and sexiest of filmmakers, he’s difficult to write about because wit and humor are more resistant to analysis than drama. McBride succeeds admirably in this task, providing a comprehensive, in-depth critical analysis and commentary on the cultural significance of Lubitsch’s work. His book is a joy to read and a gift to anyone who cares about the art of film. -- James Naremore, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: “How Did Lubitsch Do It?”1. “Herr Ernst Lubitsch”2. “Who Is Ernst Lubitsch?”3. The “Berlin Style” in Hollywood4. Tin Cans in a Warehouse?5. “Give Me a Moment, Please”6. “In Times Like These . . .”7. Master of the Ineffable8. The Aging Master9. The Door ClosesEpilogue: The Importance of Being ErnstAcknowledgments and InfluencesFilmographyNotes on SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisChinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 is an essential guide to the first golden age of Chinese cinema. Christopher Rea reveals the uniqueness and complexity of Republican China’s cinematic masterworks, from the comedies and melodramas of the silent era to talkies and musicals of the 1930s and 1940s.Trade ReviewA valuable addition to the field that makes early Chinese film history and analysis accessible, and familiarizes general readers with the diverse styles and creative vitality of early Chinese filmmakers. * China Review International *These films represent for me not just the dawn of Chinese cinema but also the visualization of my own cultural roots. They vividly established in my imagination the cinematic awakening of ancient China in a rapidly modernizing world. Rea’s sensitive reading of these films is a fascinating and insightful look into this unique cultural touchstone. -- Ang Lee, Academy Award–winning director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback MountainWith concise plot summaries, select critical sources, and a fund of historical revelations, Rea provides an impressively coordinated set of studies of Chinese films from the Republican period. His valuable contribution is destined to become a key research and pedagogical resource in the years to come. -- Rey Chow, author of A Face Drawn in Sand: Humanistic Inquiry and Foucault in the PresentChristopher Rea’s Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of early Chinese film. Featuring clear plot overviews, fascinating production details, close analyses of key scenes, and incredible detective work that traces the influence of early Hollywood and European cinema, this is the introductory textbook we have been waiting for. -- Michael Berry, author of A History of Pain: Trauma in Modern Chinese Literature and FilmAn excellent work for film studies and for anyone wishing to learn more about China in the first half of the 20th century . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *Table of ContentsList of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. Silent Films1. Laborer’s Love (Laogong zhi aiqing 勞工之愛情), (Zhang Shichuan, director, 1922)2. Playthings (Xiao wanyi 小玩意), (Sun Yu, director, 1933)3. Sports Queen (Tiyu huanghou 體育皇后), (Sun Yu, director, 1934)4. Goddess (Shennü 神女), (Wu Yonggang, director, 1934)5. The Great Road (Dalu 大路), (Sun Yu, director, 1934)6. New Women (Xin nüxing 新女性), (Cai Chusheng, director, 1935)Part II. Sound Films7. Song at Midnight (Yeban gesheng 夜半歌聲), (Ma-Xu Weibang, director, 1937)8. Street Angels (Malu tianshi 馬路天使), (Yuan Muzhi, director, 1937)9. Hua Mu Lan (Mulan congjun 木蘭從軍), (Richard Poh, director, 1939)10. Long Live the Missus! (Taitai wansui 太太萬歲), (Sang Hu, director, 1947)11. Spring River Flows East (Yi jiang chunshui xiang dong liu 一江春水向東流), (Cai Chusheng and Zheng Junli, directors, 1947)12. Spring in a Small Town (Xiaocheng zhi chun 小城之春), (Fei Mu, director, 1948)13. Wanderings of Three-Hairs the Orphan (Sanmao liulang ji 三毛流浪記), (Zhao Ming and Yan Gong, directors, 1949)14. Crows and Sparrows (Wuya yu maque 烏鴉與麻雀), (Zheng Junli, director, 1949)AbbreviationsAppendix 1: Other Significant Extant Chinese Films, 1927–1949Appendix 2: Selective Name List of Film PersonnelFilmographyBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisChinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 is an essential guide to the first golden age of Chinese cinema. Christopher Rea reveals the uniqueness and complexity of Republican China’s cinematic masterworks, from the comedies and melodramas of the silent era to talkies and musicals of the 1930s and 1940s.Trade ReviewA valuable addition to the field that makes early Chinese film history and analysis accessible, and familiarizes general readers with the diverse styles and creative vitality of early Chinese filmmakers. * China Review International *These films represent for me not just the dawn of Chinese cinema but also the visualization of my own cultural roots. They vividly established in my imagination the cinematic awakening of ancient China in a rapidly modernizing world. Rea’s sensitive reading of these films is a fascinating and insightful look into this unique cultural touchstone. -- Ang Lee, Academy Award–winning director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback MountainWith concise plot summaries, select critical sources, and a fund of historical revelations, Rea provides an impressively coordinated set of studies of Chinese films from the Republican period. His valuable contribution is destined to become a key research and pedagogical resource in the years to come. -- Rey Chow, author of A Face Drawn in Sand: Humanistic Inquiry and Foucault in the PresentChristopher Rea’s Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of early Chinese film. Featuring clear plot overviews, fascinating production details, close analyses of key scenes, and incredible detective work that traces the influence of early Hollywood and European cinema, this is the introductory textbook we have been waiting for. -- Michael Berry, author of A History of Pain: Trauma in Modern Chinese Literature and FilmAn excellent work for film studies and for anyone wishing to learn more about China in the first half of the 20th century . . . Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *Table of ContentsList of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. Silent Films1. Laborer’s Love (Laogong zhi aiqing 勞工之愛情), (Zhang Shichuan, director, 1922)2. Playthings (Xiao wanyi 小玩意), (Sun Yu, director, 1933)3. Sports Queen (Tiyu huanghou 體育皇后), (Sun Yu, director, 1934)4. Goddess (Shennü 神女), (Wu Yonggang, director, 1934)5. The Great Road (Dalu 大路), (Sun Yu, director, 1934)6. New Women (Xin nüxing 新女性), (Cai Chusheng, director, 1935)Part II. Sound Films7. Song at Midnight (Yeban gesheng 夜半歌聲), (Ma-Xu Weibang, director, 1937)8. Street Angels (Malu tianshi 馬路天使), (Yuan Muzhi, director, 1937)9. Hua Mu Lan (Mulan congjun 木蘭從軍), (Richard Poh, director, 1939)10. Long Live the Missus! (Taitai wansui 太太萬歲), (Sang Hu, director, 1947)11. Spring River Flows East (Yi jiang chunshui xiang dong liu 一江春水向東流), (Cai Chusheng and Zheng Junli, directors, 1947)12. Spring in a Small Town (Xiaocheng zhi chun 小城之春), (Fei Mu, director, 1948)13. Wanderings of Three-Hairs the Orphan (Sanmao liulang ji 三毛流浪記), (Zhao Ming and Yan Gong, directors, 1949)14. Crows and Sparrows (Wuya yu maque 烏鴉與麻雀), (Zheng Junli, director, 1949)AbbreviationsAppendix 1: Other Significant Extant Chinese Films, 1927–1949Appendix 2: Selective Name List of Film PersonnelFilmographyBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHerstories on Screen is a transnational study of feature narrative films from Australia, Canada, the United States, and New Zealand/Aotearoa that deconstruct settler-colonial myths. Kathleen Cummins offers in-depth readings of ten works by a diverse range of women filmmakers, revealing how they skillfully deploy genre tropes.Trade ReviewThis compelling study explores how mainstream narrative films about former white-settler nations, in the hands of an emerging generation of female filmmakers, were reshaped into critiques of dominant frontier myth-histories. Herstories on Screen articulates how these directors explore the contradictions in the project of nation building, bringing to the forefront the roles of women—white, Black, and indigenous—whose stories have long been overlooked. -- Susan White, University of ArizonaHerstories on Screen is a balanced and robust treatment of films by female directors who take up their home countries' national mythologies. Written in lucid prose, it engages with the feminist film theory canon and its revisions via queer, post-colonial and indigenous interrogations. Cummins deftly weaves theory with consistently astute textual analyses, making it an eminently teachable text. Urging the consideration of film as a political tool, this book addresses what these films do for representations of women, the subaltern, the maternal role, and landscape as metaphor, among many others. -- Berkeley Kaite, McGill UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Herstories in the Counter Narrative Tradition1. Women’s Storytelling—Narrative, Genre, and the Female Voice2. Debunking the Cult of True Womanhood/Motherhood on the Frontier3. Feminist Symbolic Frontier Landscapes ConclusionAppendix: The FilmsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHerstories on Screen is a transnational study of feature narrative films from Australia, Canada, the United States, and New Zealand/Aotearoa that deconstruct settler-colonial myths. Kathleen Cummins offers in-depth readings of ten works by a diverse range of women filmmakers, revealing how they skillfully deploy genre tropes.Trade ReviewThis compelling study explores how mainstream narrative films about former white-settler nations, in the hands of an emerging generation of female filmmakers, were reshaped into critiques of dominant frontier myth-histories. Herstories on Screen articulates how these directors explore the contradictions in the project of nation building, bringing to the forefront the roles of women—white, Black, and indigenous—whose stories have long been overlooked. -- Susan White, University of ArizonaHerstories on Screen is a balanced and robust treatment of films by female directors who take up their home countries' national mythologies. Written in lucid prose, it engages with the feminist film theory canon and its revisions via queer, post-colonial and indigenous interrogations. Cummins deftly weaves theory with consistently astute textual analyses, making it an eminently teachable text. Urging the consideration of film as a political tool, this book addresses what these films do for representations of women, the subaltern, the maternal role, and landscape as metaphor, among many others. -- Berkeley Kaite, McGill UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Herstories in the Counter Narrative Tradition1. Women’s Storytelling—Narrative, Genre, and the Female Voice2. Debunking the Cult of True Womanhood/Motherhood on the Frontier3. Feminist Symbolic Frontier Landscapes ConclusionAppendix: The FilmsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe pontianak, a terrifying female vampire ghost, is a powerful figure in Malay cultures. Exploring how and why the pontianak found new life in postcolonial Southeast Asian film and society, Rosalind Galt reveals the importance of cinema to histories and theories of decolonization.Trade ReviewAlluring Monsters is indispensable reading for those interested in how media, folklore, and anticolonial feminism might be explored together. The pontianak, a female ghost of childbirth with queer feminist appeal, is a fascinating fusion of pre-Islamic animism and postindependence aspirations; her influence on transnational vampire lore is decisive but little known. Galt’s deep dive into the political potential of the pontianak moves from colonial misconstruals of indigenous culture to late-colonial studio films and the decolonizing impulses of Malaysian and Singaporean popular cinemas. Across such multiethnic, intercultural flows, Galt explores issues of racialization, ethnonationalism, and environmentalism via an archivally rich exploration of supernatural horror in Southeast Asian and world cinemas. -- Bliss Cua Lim, author of Translating Time: Cinema, the Fantastic, and Temporal CritiqueThe first of its kind and a book like no other, Alluring Monsters brings Southeast Asian cinema and postcoloniality into productive tension through the much-beloved yet much-feared figure of the pontianak. Rosalind Galt has created thrilling new paths for thinking about postcolonial cinema, animism, feminism, queer/trans subjectivities, and decolonial politics. -- Alicia Izharuddin, author of Gender and Islam in Indonesian CinemaAlluring Monsters delivers on all of its ambitious promises. Rosalind Galt elegantly balances the local and the global, the historical and the theoretical, the industrial and the aesthetic, the cultural and the political, the filmic and the related arts. The result is an important new model for imagining world cinema. -- Adam Lowenstein, author of Dreaming of Cinema: Spectatorship, Surrealism, and the Age of Digital MediaAlluring Monsters is an excellent study of the role of the ubiquitous pontianak in the Malay cinema located in Malaysia and Singapore during the cultural processes of the decolonization of both countries. Galt’s scholarship is impressive in its breadth and depth, contributing to our understanding of why we must take the monstrous figure of the pontianak seriously. -- Stephen Teo, author of Chinese Martial Arts Film and the Philosophy of ActionGalt offers a rich and vivid history of the pontianak’s relevance to questions of race, gender, and Islam in the context of decolonization in the Malay peninsula. This book’s entwinement of local historiography with theorizations of the global comprises its bold and welcome intervention. -- Iggy Cortez * Film Quarterly *A history lesson on this understudied cinematic culture and also a nuanced theoretical study that demonstrates the author’s knowledge of Malay cinema and contemporary cultural and cinematic theory. Though Galt centers on Malay cinema, the study will be invaluable for those interested in the horror genre and cinema in non-Western nations in general. -- G. R. Butters Jr. * Choice Reviews *Galt offers new insights for understanding decolonisation discourses in which knowledge categories and identity are questioned. Indeed, this book opens up new ways to study other mythical horror figures that put Western rationalisation at stake. -- Erika Tiburcio-Moreno * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *A truly unique achievement on multiple levels. -- Alicia Izharuddin * Journal of Vampire Studies *Superlative scholarship. . .[Galt’s] research is wide-ranging and thorough, providing a groundbreaking understanding of a popular culture icon through the lens of decolonization. -- Philippe Mather * East Asian Journal of Popular Culture *Alluring Monsters is an insightful and sophisticated piece of work that illuminates how a popular film subgenre that features the most iconic hantu in the region facilitates a theoretical debate about world cinema. In addition, it serves as a conduit for multiple meanings and discourses that reflect colonial legacies and ideologies that continue to haunt postcolonial Malaysian and Singaporean societies. -- Norman Yusoff * Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia *Trenchantly argued and eminently readable, Alluring Monsters will be of interest to anyone interested in feminist film criticism, the horror film, histories of world cinemas, and indeed, history as such. -- Sen Meheli * Journal of Religion & Film *[A] very rich decolonial book . . . what makes the book so fascinating and unique is its fertile dalliance with contemporary scholarship in other fields like ecocinema and new animisms, which are gaining some momentum in Southeast Asian cinema. Thus, while providing a rich foundation for students of Southeast Asian cinema, the book also carries a broader appeal beyond Asian studies. -- Gaik Cheng Khoo * Journal of Asian Studies *Undoubtedly an important contribution to Malay cultures and cinema. -- David H.J. Neo * Asian Ethnicity *Engagingly written and impressively well-researched. * Pacific Affairs *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on Malay LanguageIntroduction: On the Trail of the Pontianak1. Popular Horror and the Anticolonial Imaginary2. Troubling Gender with the Pontianak3. Race, Religion, and Malay Identities4. Who Owns the Kampung? Heritage, History, and Postcolonial Space5. Animism as Form: A Pontianak Theory of the ForestNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThomas M. Puhr identifies and analyzes the ways that cinema has dealt with the tension between fate and free will. He examines films that express deterministic ideas, including circular narratives of stasis or confinement and fatalistic portraits of external forces dictating characters’ lives.Trade ReviewIn this wholly singular work, Puhr takes a refreshingly innovative and engaging approach to the surprisingly layered concept of determinism in film. Part film studies, part philosophy, Fate in Film is full of gratifying "ah-ha" moments and gasp-worthy "catches." With its conversational tone, limited jargon, and exciting re-readings of recent and classic films, the book reads like a lecture from a favorite professor -- Erica Dymond, East Stroudsburg University[This book] rewards its readers with new perspectives on familiar cinematic texts and thought provoking intertextuality. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: “You’ve Always Been the Caretaker”Part I. Mysterious Appearances: The Illusion of Agency in Identity Formation1. Jonathan Glazer’s Identity Trilogy2. The Greek InfluencePart II. Family Swallows Everything: You Are What Preceded You3. On Display4. A New Family EmergesPart III. False Freedom in Society: Breaking the Cycle Only Reinforces It5. Fate Remade6. Goodbye to SymbolsConclusion: Beyond the ScreenNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSpanning the franchise’s entire history, from Sean Connery’s iconic swagger to Daniel Craig’s rougher, more visceral interpretation of the superspy, James Bond Will Return offers both academic readers and fans a comprehensive view of the series’s transformations against the backdrop of real-world geopolitical intrigue and sweeping social changes.Trade ReviewWith a stellar lineup of authors offering sharp, original analysis of every James Bond film to date, this book delivers a fascinating retrospective of the 007 franchise at a critical moment in the extended life of the series. -- Christoph Lindner, editor of The James Bond Phenomenon, Revisioning 007, and Resisting James BondFeaturing established Bond scholars and new voices, this collection offers new and exciting perspectives on the film franchise. While each of the Bond films are a product of the time they were made, these essays tell us that the series has relevance to the world we live in today. Well written and fun to read, James Bond Will Return will excite even the most seasoned Bond scholar and fan. -- Robert G. Weiner, coeditor of James Bond in World and Popular CultureJames Bond Will Return takes a chronological, anthological approach to the study of the cinematic Bond, enabling a totalizing view of the so-called ‘Bond experience.’ This is the most expansive and well-organized coverage of the Bond cinematic universe to date, representing film and cultural history par excellence. -- Ian Kinane, author of Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence and general editor of the International Journal of James Bond StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: James Bond—Agent of Continuity and Change, by Claire Hines, Terence McSweeney, and Stuart Joy1. Bond and the New Elizabethans: Tradition and Modernity in Dr. No (1962), by Laura Crossley2. “A Real Labour of Love, as They Say”: James Bond as a Sexual Plaything in From Russia with Love (1963), by Lucy Bolton3. The Midas Touch: Eastmancolor, the Bond Franchise, and Goldfinger (1964), by Keith M. Johnston4. The Popular Geopolitics of Thunderball (1965): Look Up, Look Down, and Look Everywhere!, by Klaus Dodds5. Bond in the East: Orientalism and the Exotic in You Only Live Twice (1967), by Robert Shail6. The Other Fellow: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), by James Chapman7. Diamonds Are Forever (1971): 007 and Transatlantic States of Emergency, by Ian Scott8. From Harlem to San Monique: Spatial Dichotomies, Voodoo, and Cultural Identity in Live and Let Die (1973), by Fran Pheasant-Kelly9. “We All Get Our Jollies One Way or Another”: The Perversity and Pleasure of Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), by Julie Lobalzo Wright10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)—Nobody Does It Better: “Keeping the British End Up” at a Time of National Crisis, by Terence McSweeney11. Moonraker (1979) and the Canvas of Escapism, by Steven Gerrard12. The Spectre of Death: Revenge and Retribution in For Your Eyes Only (1981), by Stuart Joy13. The (Clown) Suited Hero: James Bond, Costume, Gender and Disguise in Octopussy (1983), by Claire Hines14. Scowls and Cowls: Grace Jones, Costume Design, and A View to a Kill (1985), by Randall Stevens15. “A Time When Indiscriminating Bed-Hopping Is Definitely Not Advisable”: Safe-Sex References in the UK Press Reception of The Living Daylights (1987), by Stephanie Jones16. Bond in the New World Orders: Licence to Kill (1989), by Stacey Peebles17. Cold War Nostalgia, (Geo)Political Progress, and James Bond in GoldenEye (1995), by Tatiana Konrad18. Bond by the Numbers: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), by Llewella Chapman19. Bond at the Crossroads: The World Is Not Enough (1999), by Tobias Hochscherf20. The Digital Domain of Die Another Day (2002), by Christopher Holliday21. What Matters More: Hierarchies of Value in Casino Royale (2006), by Christine Muller22. “Like a Bullet . . .”: Speed, Economy, and Canonical Continuity in Quantum of Solace (2008), by Estella Tincknell23. “Sometimes the Old Ways Are the Best”: Technology and the Body in a Gothic Reading of Sam Mendes’s Skyfall (2012), by Monica Germanà24. “It’s Always Been Me”: Spectrality, Hauntings, and Retcon in Spectre (2015), by James Smith25. No Time to Die (2021) and The Spy Who Loved #MeToo?, by Terence McSweeney and Stuart JoySelected BibliographyContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisSpanning the franchise’s entire history, from Sean Connery’s iconic swagger to Daniel Craig’s rougher, more visceral interpretation of the superspy, James Bond Will Return offers both academic readers and fans a comprehensive view of the series’s transformations against the backdrop of real-world geopolitical intrigue and sweeping social changes.Trade ReviewWith a stellar lineup of authors offering sharp, original analysis of every James Bond film to date, this book delivers a fascinating retrospective of the 007 franchise at a critical moment in the extended life of the series. -- Christoph Lindner, editor of The James Bond Phenomenon, Revisioning 007, and Resisting James BondFeaturing established Bond scholars and new voices, this collection offers new and exciting perspectives on the film franchise. While each of the Bond films are a product of the time they were made, these essays tell us that the series has relevance to the world we live in today. Well written and fun to read, James Bond Will Return will excite even the most seasoned Bond scholar and fan. -- Robert G. Weiner, coeditor of James Bond in World and Popular CultureJames Bond Will Return takes a chronological, anthological approach to the study of the cinematic Bond, enabling a totalizing view of the so-called ‘Bond experience.’ This is the most expansive and well-organized coverage of the Bond cinematic universe to date, representing film and cultural history par excellence. -- Ian Kinane, author of Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence and general editor of the International Journal of James Bond StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: James Bond—Agent of Continuity and Change, by Claire Hines, Terence McSweeney, and Stuart Joy1. Bond and the New Elizabethans: Tradition and Modernity in Dr. No (1962), by Laura Crossley2. “A Real Labour of Love, as They Say”: James Bond as a Sexual Plaything in From Russia with Love (1963), by Lucy Bolton3. The Midas Touch: Eastmancolor, the Bond Franchise, and Goldfinger (1964), by Keith M. Johnston4. The Popular Geopolitics of Thunderball (1965): Look Up, Look Down, and Look Everywhere!, by Klaus Dodds5. Bond in the East: Orientalism and the Exotic in You Only Live Twice (1967), by Robert Shail6. The Other Fellow: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), by James Chapman7. Diamonds Are Forever (1971): 007 and Transatlantic States of Emergency, by Ian Scott8. From Harlem to San Monique: Spatial Dichotomies, Voodoo, and Cultural Identity in Live and Let Die (1973), by Fran Pheasant-Kelly9. “We All Get Our Jollies One Way or Another”: The Perversity and Pleasure of Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), by Julie Lobalzo Wright10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)—Nobody Does It Better: “Keeping the British End Up” at a Time of National Crisis, by Terence McSweeney11. Moonraker (1979) and the Canvas of Escapism, by Steven Gerrard12. The Spectre of Death: Revenge and Retribution in For Your Eyes Only (1981), by Stuart Joy13. The (Clown) Suited Hero: James Bond, Costume, Gender and Disguise in Octopussy (1983), by Claire Hines14. Scowls and Cowls: Grace Jones, Costume Design, and A View to a Kill (1985), by Randall Stevens15. “A Time When Indiscriminating Bed-Hopping Is Definitely Not Advisable”: Safe-Sex References in the UK Press Reception of The Living Daylights (1987), by Stephanie Jones16. Bond in the New World Orders: Licence to Kill (1989), by Stacey Peebles17. Cold War Nostalgia, (Geo)Political Progress, and James Bond in GoldenEye (1995), by Tatiana Konrad18. Bond by the Numbers: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), by Llewella Chapman19. Bond at the Crossroads: The World Is Not Enough (1999), by Tobias Hochscherf20. The Digital Domain of Die Another Day (2002), by Christopher Holliday21. What Matters More: Hierarchies of Value in Casino Royale (2006), by Christine Muller22. “Like a Bullet . . .”: Speed, Economy, and Canonical Continuity in Quantum of Solace (2008), by Estella Tincknell23. “Sometimes the Old Ways Are the Best”: Technology and the Body in a Gothic Reading of Sam Mendes’s Skyfall (2012), by Monica Germanà24. “It’s Always Been Me”: Spectrality, Hauntings, and Retcon in Spectre (2015), by James Smith25. No Time to Die (2021) and The Spy Who Loved #MeToo?, by Terence McSweeney and Stuart JoySelected BibliographyContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisHitchcock Annual volume 26 will include essays on Rebecca, and an expanded section of review essays on recent books on such topics as Vertigo and the history of British cinema.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDawn's witty outlook on life will have you laughing * Prima *A must-read to pass on to friends and family of all ages * Women and Home *A manual for how to create your own happiness * Sunday Times *A mellow, gentle read with words of wisdom * Independent *It's beautiful, like Dawn, and stuffed full of goodies -- Jo BrandThis book is inspired!!! -- Nadiya HussainOne brilliant, inspiring woman -- Emma KennedyWho wouldn't want to spend a year in the company of Dawn French? * BEST *A lovely concept . . . it's very intimate -- Matt Baker, BBC The One ShowLovely! -- Jane Garvey, BBC Radio 4 Woman's HourDawn French will get you thinking * Fabulous Magazine *I spent a good 10 minutes snogging it -- Sarah CoxI love it. Lots of my friends are getting sent one now!!! -- Deborah MeadenThis woman is a warm hug in human form - just thinking about her makes me smile. Dawn spreads joy in abundance. She is dazzling -- Lorraine Kelly

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Book SynopsisA postmodern analysis of the Coen brothers' approach to filmmaking.Trade Review"There is as yet only one book length analysis of any note [about the Coen Brothers] by a film scholar: R. Barton Palrmer's Joel and Ethan Coen (2004). . . . This is a book for those who have already made the acquaintance of the Coens through their films and are now ready to think about their work seriously."--Film International Table of ContentsIntroduction: A brief portrait of the artists; A different meaning for the same old song: Blood Simple; The Coen brothers: Postmodern filmmakers; Uncertainty principle: The Man Who Wasn't There; The exotic everyday: Fargo; The artist, mass culture and the common man: Barton Fink and Raising Arizona; Classic Hollywood redivivus: The Hudsucker Proxy and O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Coen brothers interviewed; Michel Ciment and Hubert Niogret; Filmography

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Book SynopsisAn ethnographic study of the kathak dance form in the San Francisco Bay Area community formed by Pandit Chitresh Das.Trade Review"Novel, original, and impressive. A story of the dance and one of its most important personalities, and an important book for all interested in the diaspora of Indian and Eastern arts."--George E. Ruckert, author of Music in North India: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Friedman's passion for Spielberg films is contagious. Reading Citizen Spielberg makes you want to revisit old favorites like Jurassic Park (1993) and less familiar gems like Empire of the Sun (1987), both to appreciate Spielberg's artistry and assess Friedman's arguments. " --Australasian Journal of American Studies"Essential . . . Perhaps Friedman's greatest achievement is deciphering--in remarkably entertaining fashion--why every Spielberg film is vital to understanding his entire career." --The Film Stage"Citizen Spielberg is an indispensable study of outstanding scholarship and criticism about Steven Spielberg's life, work, and place in American film and cultural history. Friedman writes with commitment and conviction, opening new channels of understanding into Spielberg, his films, and his times."--Sam B. Girgus, author of Clint Eastwood's America"Friedman claims to have penned the first comprehensive analysis of [Spielberg's] films, and he may well be right."--Library Journal"Friedman's treatment is an exhaustive and necessary catalog."--American Interest"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist."--Screening the Past"Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion -- especially constrained masculine emotions -- have received insufficient book-length study."--Bloomsbury Review"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's cinematic output as director; taking readers through an analysis of his films and responding to the critical assessments of others, Friedman asserts that 'Spielberg is a far more complex, sophisticated, and wry filmmaker than most mainstream critics and academic scholars appreciate.’”--Shofar "Encourage your brightest students to investigate Citizen Speilberg. It's the sort of book that by eschewing jargon but employing serious critical analysis could have a profound effect."--Splice"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist." * Screening the Past *"Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion--especially constrained masculine emotions--have received insufficient book-length study." * Bloomsbury Review *"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's cinematic output as director; taking readers through an analysis of his films and responding to the critical assessments of others, Friedman asserts that 'Spielberg is a far more complex, sophisticated, and wry filmmaker than most mainstream critics and academic scholars appreciate.’” * Shofar *"Encourage your brightest students to investigate Citizen Speilberg. It's the sort of book that by eschewing jargon but employing serious critical analysis could have a profound effect." * Splice *"Friedman's treatment is an exhaustive and necessary catalog." * American Interest *Table of ContentsPreface ixAcknowledgments xxiii1 The Fantasy and Science Fiction Films 12 The Action/Adventure Melodramas 653 The Monster Movies 1174 The War Films 1735 The Social Problem/Ethnic Minority Films 2436 Imagining the Holocaust 311Filmography 341Works Cited 351Index 369

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Book SynopsisFollows Pedro Almodovar's career chronologically as he moves from amateur to international celebrity, and understands the films' complexity in terms of the director's central themes and the Spanish film tradition from which he comes. This work is of interest to new film students and specialists alike.Trade Review"For fans and film students alike, D'Lugo's contribution to the Contemporary Film Directors series celebrates the director's camp aesthetic and artistic sensibilities with insight and elan."--Publishers Weekly "[D'Lugo] significantly extends the critical discourse on Almodovar's work by focusing on the cluster of ambiguities and polarities that sustain the most controversial aspects of Almodovar's authorship."--Screening The Past "Providing a thoroughly researched synthesis of the many years of study of Almodovar's work by other scholars in both Spanish and English, D'Lugo nevertheless makes the narrative his own through contrasting Almodovar's early films to the films that inspired the director and the ones he seemed to revile and react to, and by emphasizing the auteur's own role in the creation of his personality as a celebrity-author ... With such a thorough and well-written book as D'Lugo's, a full appreciation of ... the genius of its creator has become a lot easier and more enjoyable."--European-films.netTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix PEDRO ALMÓDOVAR AND HIS CINEMA 1 Low-Level Melodrama 1 Pepi, Luci, Bom, and Other Friends of Pedro 16 Migration and Melodrama 29 Thrillers 45 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown59 Transnational Repositioning after Women on the Verge 67 The Flower of My Secret 85 Live Flesh 93 All about My Mother 99 Talk to Her and Bad Education 105 INTERVIEW WITH PEDRO ALMODÓVAR 131 SELF-INTERVIEW 145 Filmography 153 Bibliography 159 Index 165

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Book SynopsisAn ethnographic study of the kathak dance form in the San Francisco Bay Area community formed by Pandit Chitresh Das.Trade Review"Novel, original, and impressive. A story of the dance and one of its most important personalities, and an important book for all interested in the diaspora of Indian and Eastern arts."--George E. Ruckert, author of Music in North India: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A much-needed critical volume. Movie Workers fills a major gap in scholarly and popular film history, presenting a meticulous and engaging analysis of a wealth of fascinating new data and case studies." --Technology and Culture "This is a very important book. It is no exaggeration to say that it totally re-writes the labour history of the British film industry. . . . Methodologically precise." --Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television "This important study acts as a political weapon, a much-needed act of recovery and a revision of British film history." --Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsCoverTitleCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Women’s Work in Film Production: Concepts, Materials, and Methods1. Organizing Work: Gender and the Film Trade Union2. The 1930s: Modernizing Production3. The 1940s: Wartime Opportunities4. The 1950s: Rebuilding Britain5. The 1960s: The New Pioneers6. The 1970s and 1980s: Working with FeminismEpilogue: Legacies and New BeginningsAppendix A: Application Form for Membership in the Association of CineTechnicians (circa 1930s)Appendix B: ACT Job Levels, 1947Appendix C: Film Technicians: Numbers and Percentage by Gender, Decade, and Production CategoryNotesSelect GlossaryIndexBack cover

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Friedman's passion for Spielberg films is contagious. Reading Citizen Spielberg makes you want to revisit old favorites like Jurassic Park (1993) and less familiar gems like Empire of the Sun (1987), both to appreciate Spielberg's artistry and assess Friedman's arguments. " --Australasian Journal of American Studies"Essential . . . Perhaps Friedman's greatest achievement is deciphering--in remarkably entertaining fashion--why every Spielberg film is vital to understanding his entire career." --The Film Stage"Citizen Spielberg is an indispensable study of outstanding scholarship and criticism about Steven Spielberg's life, work, and place in American film and cultural history. Friedman writes with commitment and conviction, opening new channels of understanding into Spielberg, his films, and his times."--Sam B. Girgus, author of Clint Eastwood's America"Friedman claims to have penned the first comprehensive analysis of [Spielberg's] films, and he may well be right."--Library Journal"Friedman's treatment is an exhaustive and necessary catalog."--American Interest"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist."--Screening the Past"Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion -- especially constrained masculine emotions -- have received insufficient book-length study."--Bloomsbury Review"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's cinematic output as director; taking readers through an analysis of his films and responding to the critical assessments of others, Friedman asserts that 'Spielberg is a far more complex, sophisticated, and wry filmmaker than most mainstream critics and academic scholars appreciate.’”--Shofar "Encourage your brightest students to investigate Citizen Speilberg. It's the sort of book that by eschewing jargon but employing serious critical analysis could have a profound effect."--Splice"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist." * Screening the Past *"Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion--especially constrained masculine emotions--have received insufficient book-length study." * Bloomsbury Review *"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's cinematic output as director; taking readers through an analysis of his films and responding to the critical assessments of others, Friedman asserts that 'Spielberg is a far more complex, sophisticated, and wry filmmaker than most mainstream critics and academic scholars appreciate.’” * Shofar *"Encourage your brightest students to investigate Citizen Speilberg. It's the sort of book that by eschewing jargon but employing serious critical analysis could have a profound effect." * Splice *"Friedman's treatment is an exhaustive and necessary catalog." * American Interest *Table of ContentsPreface ixAcknowledgments xxiii1 The Fantasy and Science Fiction Films 12 The Action/Adventure Melodramas 653 The Monster Movies 1174 The War Films 1735 The Social Problem/Ethnic Minority Films 2436 Imagining the Holocaust 311Filmography 341Works Cited 351Index 369

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWhile the arguments put forward in Performing Trauma in Central Africa are impressive, the methodological and ethical commitments that buttress the text are even more so. Edmondson's research for the book spans well over adecade and encompasses a rich variety of ethnographic and archival investigations on three continents. * Modern Drama *Edmondson's publication provokes a crucial debate on the humanitarian efforts of performance, particularly in geographic regions of trauma. * TDR: The Drama Review *Edmondson's book is an outstanding addition to the literature on theatre and performance in situations of conflict and post-conflict. It will be an indispensable work for students, academics and activists concerned with the role of the arts in war-affected communities and within the humanitarian sector more broadly. * New Theatre Quarterly *Edmondson deploys her knowledge of the region and her capacity for critical participation to illuminate both the power and the limits of memory * Theatre Journal *[T]his important volume [is] particularly valuable as an honest and accurate critique of art for social change. . . . Essential. * Choice *The author's transparency calls attention to the burden of empire she both carries and casts off whenever possible . . . Edmondson's writing is both trauma-suspect and trauma-informed. * Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of AcronymsIntroduction1. Competitive Memory in the Great Lakes: Touring Genocide2. Marketing Trauma and the Theatre of War in Northern Uganda3. Trauma, Inc. in Postgenocide Rwanda4. Repetition, Rupture, and Ruined: Narratives from the Congo5. Gifted by Trauma: The Branding of Post-Conflict Northern Uganda6. Confessions of a Failed Theatre ActivistAfterword: Faustin Linyekula and the Labors of HopeBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWhile the arguments put forward in Performing Trauma in Central Africa are impressive, the methodological and ethical commitments that buttress the text are even more so. Edmondson's research for the book spans well over adecade and encompasses a rich variety of ethnographic and archival investigations on three continents. * Modern Drama *Edmondson's publication provokes a crucial debate on the humanitarian efforts of performance, particularly in geographic regions of trauma. * TDR: The Drama Review *Edmondson's book is an outstanding addition to the literature on theatre and performance in situations of conflict and post-conflict. It will be an indispensable work for students, academics and activists concerned with the role of the arts in war-affected communities and within the humanitarian sector more broadly. * New Theatre Quarterly *Edmondson deploys her knowledge of the region and her capacity for critical participation to illuminate both the power and the limits of memory * Theatre Journal *[T]his important volume [is] particularly valuable as an honest and accurate critique of art for social change. . . . Essential. * Choice *The author's transparency calls attention to the burden of empire she both carries and casts off whenever possible . . . Edmondson's writing is both trauma-suspect and trauma-informed. * Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of AcronymsIntroduction1. Competitive Memory in the Great Lakes: Touring Genocide2. Marketing Trauma and the Theatre of War in Northern Uganda3. Trauma, Inc. in Postgenocide Rwanda4. Repetition, Rupture, and Ruined: Narratives from the Congo5. Gifted by Trauma: The Branding of Post-Conflict Northern Uganda6. Confessions of a Failed Theatre ActivistAfterword: Faustin Linyekula and the Labors of HopeBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisPerformance as public enactment of justice and human rightsTrade Review"Cole retrieves the commission from any narrow legal or quantitative assessment to uncover a promising literariness at its core that should be read and interpreted." —Ed Charlton, University of Cambridge, Research in African Literatures, October 2011"Cole's study significantly enhances our understanding of the TRC.... [It] is to be welcomed as a true example of committed scholarship." —Journal of Theatre Research International"In this beautifully constructed and densely argued volume, Cole attends to actors, scripts, and audiences, and also to the literary and artistic renderings that carried the TRC hearings to a nation and to the world." —Interventions"Cole's description of both the achievements and failures of the South African TRC is a substantial contribution to the debate as to what is justice. This is a book not only for lawyers and those involved in the dramatic arts and philosophers. The depth of Cole's research and clarity of the arguments advanced is a very useful contribution as to what ought to be done in our troubled world." —George Bizos, Senior Counsel, Legal Resources Center, South Africa"The five well-crafted chapters present instances of how the public or the nation experienced or witnessed the public proceedings of the commission either directly or mediated through the news media or art. Cole manages—and this is no small feat—in the first two chapters to position the performance perspective. She also recasts the related fields of transitional justice and political trials to reveal new dimensions of the constitutive fields of specific trials in South Africa and transitional justice." —Political and Legal Anthropology Review"[T]his multifaceted work on the TRC as a performed enactment of transition from apartheid to democracy offers a stimulating interpretation of the process by a scholar with a convincing interest in and profound understanding of the complexities of the South African process of transformation." —L'Homme"There are many ways of telling the story about how people told their story. Catherine Cole looks at the functioning of the Truth Commission as a mode of story-telling in itself. Her empathetic and richly detailed recovery of information adds a new dimension: an objective and nuanced story of the passionate TRC story of the stories of pain." —Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa"An exceptionally cogent and substantial project by a leading scholar in theater and performance studies." —Joseph Roach, Yale University"Performing South Africa’s Truth Commission is a must-read for anyone interested in the work of the Truth Commission." —Safundi : S African & Amer Comp Stds"I would submit that no comparable media studies analysis approaches the level of complex layering with which Cole, sensitive to mediumspecificity but also to the vagaries of performance as such, thinks of television itself as a polyvalent, indeed over-determined, kind of performer, juggling the work of Brechtian narrator, Greek chorus member, vaudevillian magician, and melodramatic star actor.Contemporary Theatre Review" —Contemporary Theatre Review"In this important book, Catherine Cole wisely observes that commissions still 'grapple with the ultimate failure of traditional jurisprudence in the face of contending demands for justice, reparation, acknowledgement, mourning, healing, reconciliation, and the promulgation of public memory' (x). Truth commissions can only attempt to write the future of the past.[However, as the author], 'This book has made you a secondary witness'." —The Drama Review TDR"Cole takes us through new routes as she lays out a startlingly new mapping of the Truth Commission and its place in South African performative and cultural life. An original and meticulous study of one of the most important examples of transitional justice of our era. Compelling reading both for South Africans and international readers." —Liz Gunner, University of the Witwatersrand"Offers a powerful lens into the performance of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission." —Diana Taylor, New York University"The book stands apart from the mostly academic literature that uses the testimonies from the publichearings to analyze narratives, silences and agency or as a springboard for further analysis of patterns of violence, human rights violation, gender bias, prospects for reconciliation and so forth. It also stands apart from the broad spectrum of work informed by different scientific traditions and legal positivism that has characterized the search for the foundation of transitional justice, reconciliation, and rights-based approaches." —PoLARTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments1. Spectacles of Legality: Performance, Transitional Justice, and the Law2. Justice in Transition: Political Trials, 195619643. Witnessing and Interpreting Testimony: Live, Present, Public, and Speaking in Many Tongues4. Eyes and Ears of the Nation: Television and the Implicated Witness5. Dragons in the Living Room: Truth and Reconciliation in Repertoire, 2006ConclusionAfterword: What "Truth" Meant to the TRCNotesSelect BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisCelebrating one of the world's finest opera programsTrade ReviewAn analytical book it is not. A critical history it is not. Take it for what it is: a lavish, illustration-rich, coffee table-worthy, and fascinating-to-look-through panorama in print of the Indiana University Opera Theater's first 60 years. July 11, 2010 * The Herald Times *A treasure trove of pleasure for opera lovers, Opera for All Seasons also manifests the profundity and charm of this art form for those who may have little experience or knowledge of it. August/September 2010 * Bloom *Graduates of the Jacobs School of Music and the many thousands of opera lovers who have attended the theater over the decades will appreciate the book's evocative rendering of past productions. Vol. 107, No. 1, March 2011 * Indiana Magazine of History *The Indiana University Opera Theater . . . [has] celebrated its 60th anniversary. Throughout those 60 years, it has become one of the most respected opera companies in the United States. . . The most striking feature of this book is, without a doubt, its visual impact. It contains almost 500 pages of beautiful, striking, and detailed photographs, both in color and black and white, of various productions over the company's 60-year history. . . It gives a thorough pictorial history of a very impressive and renowned program.13. 3-4 2010 * Music Reference Services Quarterly *It's the best performance in my life and my most important work. -- Ned Rorem, on IU Opera Theater world premiere of Our TownTable of ContentsForeword by Gwyn RichardsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Premieres and Firsts2. The Core of the Matter3. Other Classics4. On the Road5. Musicals and the Light6. Off the Beaten Path7. Behind the ScenesAppendix 1. Operas Performed by SeasonAppendix 2. Operas Performed by TitleAppendix 3. Singers, Roles Performed, and Operas Appendix 4. Conductors, Stage Director, Choreographer, Set Designer

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Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary study examining the diverse meanings of the Warsaw Ghetto in American culture. Looks at how the ghetto has been represented in fine art, book illustrations, film, television, radio, theater, fiction, poetry, and comics.Trade Review“This vivid approach to an important event will be appreciated by students and scholars of the Holocaust as well as general readers.”—Marcia G. Welsh Library Journal“As she painstakingly draws the map of American culture produced against the backdrop of the Warsaw Ghetto, Baskind analyzes the broader contours that all the individual projects in various media reveal in tandem about this corner of the American art scene. . . . . Baskind has produced a daring work of scholarship on American art.”—Maya Balakirsky Katz H-Judaic“A profound, broad-ranging, multimedia analysis of American responses to the armed Jewish uprising against the Nazis in Warsaw. . . . Baskind provides insightful interpretation grounded in meticulous research and supported by detailed, elegant, and illuminating visual analysis.”—Andrew Bush Studies in American Jewish Literature“Her open and nonjudgmental treatment of many different artists who have depicted the ghetto over the past seventy years is a welcome addition to the historical discussion of the Holocaust in American culture. Future scholars should build on this book’s success, adding to Baskind’s wide-ranging guide to American art and literature on the Warsaw Ghetto with more historical consideration and discussion.”—Kirsten Fermaglich American Historical Review“The Warsaw Ghetto uprising has long captured the imagination of novelists, poets, and artists. Samantha Baskind's wide-ranging and highly original study of the uprising's impact on American art and culture is a major contribution to our understanding of Holocaust memory.”—Samuel Kassow,author of Who Will Write Our History?“In her penetrating exploration of how the Warsaw Ghetto has been represented in American culture over a seventy-year arc, Samantha Baskind reveals the ever-evolving significance of the ghetto and its uprising in real political and aesthetic time. With grace, a keen eye, and deep insight, she traces how new and changing media shape and reshape these events for contemporary audiences. Brilliantly illustrated, this is an excellent contribution to discussions of ‘the Americanization of the Holocaust’ and the Holocaust in visual culture—highly and warmly recommended!”—James E. Young,author of The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces Between“[An] admirably readable account.”—Brad Prager Holocaust and Genocide Studies“The Warsaw Ghetto uprising has resonated for more than seven decades with American Jews, looming in their consciousness ever since those wrenching days of April 1943. In spoken words, graphic images, and dramatic presentations it has played a powerful role in how they communicate among themselves about the great catastrophe of the Nazi era and how they present that cataclysm to the larger American public. A singular contribution, Samantha Baskind's book deftly and richly links the uprising to the inner politics of American Jewry and to its complex engagements with U.S. politics more broadly.”—Hasia R. Diner,author of The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000“Baskind’s book is a tour de force: eloquent, wide-ranging, and engaging. This is important work, taking up a necessary challenge to document the cultural representations and refractions of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising over more than seventy years, showing it to be a rolling marker of postwar Jewish American identity.”—Oren B. Stier,author of Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory“Baskind creates a midrashic exploration of the ongoing story of the uprising, its relevance to future generations, and the ways in which it has come to inform Jewish cultural identity.”—Victoria Aarons Journal of Modern Jewish StudiesTable of ContentsContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. “You Must Be Prepared to Resist, Not Give Yourselves Up like Sheep to Slaughter”: Heroism, the Muscular Jew, and the Warsaw Ghetto, 1943–19502. “I Was Responsible to the People Who Had Played Out That Terrible Hour in History”: Rod Serling, Millard Lampell, and Familial Conflict Behind the Walls3. “I Am a Jew and What Am I Going to Do About It”: Leon Uris, Mila 18, and Muscular Judaism4. “I Would Like to Paint One Million Jewish Icons”: Samuel Bak’s Painted Memorials and the Traumatic Loss of the Youngest Generation5. “Our Children, Our Children Must Live”: Joe Kubert, Comics, and the Saving RemnantEpilogue: “Will the World Know of Us? Will the World Know?”: The Warsaw Ghetto in the United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA collaboration between well-established and rising scholars, Futures of Dance Studies suggests multiple directions for new research in the field. Essays address dance in a wider range of contexts - onstage, on screen, in the studio, and on the street - and deploy methods from diverse disciplines.

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Book SynopsisExamining each of his full-length plays, this text explores the reasons behind the enduring power of Chekov's words. It shows how the plays relate to one another, Chekov's short stories and his life, and places them in the context of Russian and European drama and the larger culture of the period.

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Book SynopsisThis critical exploration of modern drama starts with Buchner and Ibsen and then discusses the major playwrights who have shaped modern theatre - Strindberg, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht, Beckett and Handke. An introduction by the author assesses developments over the years.Trade Review"The best single study of the astonishing transformations dramatic art has undergone in the last century or so." Thomas R. Edwards, New York Times Book Review "In its field this is one of the choice books of the century. It moves toward the deepest sources of some great plays, so it deepens their effect on us." Stanley Kauffmann "The Making of Modern Drama has no rivals. Richard Gilman's account of his fascinating subject is written with love, measure, and authority." Susan Sontag "Gilman's book on the genesis and development of contemporary drama is acute, beautifully accomplished, and, I think, important." Donald Barthelme

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Book SynopsisBritish theatre of the second half of the 20th century encompassed new writing, theatrical performances, the formation of institutions and the export of West End musicals. Divided into sections, this account of post-war British theatre should be useful to students, teachers and enthusiasts.

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Book SynopsisAn analysis of the earliest extant documents of Christianity - the letters of Paul - to describe the tensions and texture of life of the first urban Christians. This edition features an introduction examining the evolution of New Testament scholarship over the last two decades of the 20th century.Trade Review"Those with any historical bent will be intrigued by the way a story usually overlaid with thick layers of theological speculation is unraveled. . . . And those who simply have an interest in how groups form in an era . . . will be fascinated by this case study of one particular community that has ramifications for understanding all other communities."—Robert McAfee Brown, New York Times Book Review"Meeks' book has much to recommend it and it certainly is a step towards a deeper appreciation of the early urban christians."—W.R. Domeris, University of Cape Town, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa"Highly informed and very readable."—E. Earle Ellis, Reformed Review"A milestone in the Pauline studies, [it] is an engrossing study—comprehensive in scope, meticulous in its detail and suave in its prose style. One of the best on the Pauline world."—Dharam Singh, Journal of Religious Studies"Convincing and illuminating."—D. Kyrtatis, Journal of Roman StudiesCo-winner of the 1986 Annual Award for Excellence given by the American Academy of ReligionCo-winner of the 1984 Best Book on the New Testament given by the Biblical Archaeology Review Publication Award

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Book SynopsisPresents an analysis of Jonathan Edwards' theological position. This book includes a study of his life and the intellectual issues in the America of his time, and examines the problem of free will in connection with Leibniz, Locke, and Hume.

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Book SynopsisContains Edwards' most mature and persistent attempt to judge the validity of the religious development in eighteenth-century America known as the Great Awakening.Trade Review"Any modern empirical philosopher should welcome this sane, balanced, and acute study of the signs of a truly converted life. It is valuable to be reminded that not all the varieties of religious experience are experiences of true religion."—Journal of Theological Studies"This volume, like its predecessor, is magnificently produced and carefully edited. The editor . . . provides over eighty pages of an Introduction which shows a profound and erudite analysis of Edwards’s treatment of the question, How shall the presence of the divine Spirit be discerned against the background of the Great Awakening in New England?, and contrives to give it a contemporary relevance."—Theology"A splendid piece of interpretation, exegetical and contemporary."—Church History

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Book SynopsisA riveting portrait of the great Sarah Bernhardt from acclaimed writer Robert GottliebTrade Review"[This] is that rarest of books, a serious biography that reads not only like a novel, but like a big, romantic, sprawling, over-the-top novel. . . . A wonderful book."—Michael Korda, Daily Beast -- Michael Korda * The Daily Beast *"A fascinating look at Bernhardt's mythology and the stagecraft behind it. . . . What Sarah understood--as Gottlieb, a storied editor and publisher, makes clear--was how the heightened drama of performance might be extended to her own life."--Vogue * Vogue *"Mr. Gottlieb's fluid style and lightly worn authority offer a lucid and essential modern guide to the making of celebrity, in an era before the noun existed."--Norman Lebrecht, Wall Street Journal -- Norman Lebrecht * Wall Street Journal *"Robert Gottlieb is true to the mystery of his subject's self-invented life. He also does what few biographers of famous women seem able or willing to do: He focuses on her work. . . . Vintage Gottleib, full of humor and refreshingly free of hagiography."--Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times -- Susan Salter Reynolds * Los Angeles Times *"Immensely entertaining."--Jeremy McCarter, Newsweek -- Jeremy McCarter * Newsweek *"A delectable, witty short biography of legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt, and a decidedly unstuffy debut for Yale's Jewish Lives series."--Shelf Awareness * Shelf Awareness *"Gottlieb's Sarah is a fine introduction to a fascinating woman, giving the reader a lively sense of why, so many decades after her death, the name of Sarah Bernhardt, above all others, still stands for actress."--Julius Novick, The Forward -- Julius Novick * The Forward *"Avoiding pedantry on the one hand and prurience on the other, [Gottlieb] writes about Bernhardt with convincing respect and sympathy, tempered with quiet amusement at her oddities and excesses. . . . His conversational, urbane prose is accompanied by numerous illustrations, including a splendid gallery of full-page photos showing Bernhardt in 16 of her famous roles. Gottlieb's Sarah is a fine introduction to a fascinating woman, giving the reader a lively sense of why, so many decades after her death, the name of Sarah Bernhardt, above all others, still stands for actress."--Julius Novick, The Forward -- Julius Novick * The Forward *"There's an amazing amount of information here, about an amazing woman. . . . This is the first English-language biography of Sarah Bernhardt, and it is wonderfully informative as well as entertaining. I'm glad I've been given the opportunity to experience it, and will never again think of her as just that woman who was famous for playing Hamlet."--Shakespeare Geek * Shakespeare Geek *"An elegant and engaging portrait worthy of Bernhardt. . . a terrific book."--Glenn C. Altschuler, NPR Books We Like -- Glenn C. Altschuler * NPR Books We Like *"Comprehensive and illuminating about many things besides Bernhardt--French anti-Semitism, sexual mores amongst the intellectual aristocracy, etc.--without being exhausting. I can't imagine Bernhardt's story being told better."--Scott Eyman, Palm Beach Post -- Scott Eyman * Palm Beach Post *"Appropriately lively. . . Gottlieb's affable, anecdotal style suits the subject well."--Graham Robb, New York Review of Books -- Graham Robb * New York Review of Books *"Sarah Bernhardt is a gift to the raconteur. Mr. Gottlieb takes full advantage. Where he can, he stages her life as a performance, with knowing asides and a certain kind of old-fashioned fun." — Economist * Economist *"[A] sharp, efficient biography."--Emma Brockes, New York Times Book Review -- Emma Brockes * New York Times Book Review *"A fascinating look at Bernhardt's mythology and the stagecraft behind it. . . . What Sarah understood--as Gottlieb, a storied editor and publisher makes clear--was how the heightened drama of performance might be extended to her own life."--Vogue * Vogue *"Robert Gottlieb's book is appropriately small, beautiful and packed with drama. . . . Mr. Gottlieb is a meticulous reader, researcher and distiller of information. . . . Although he claims we can know little about her actual performances, he manages to make them come alive. I see her and hear her, declamatory to our modern sensibilities, alarmingly natural and passionate to audiences of the late 19th century."--Kathleen George, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- Kathleen George * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *"One ends this breathlessly readable and deeply intelligent book in as much awe of Sarah as people and audiences were in her own lifetime; it is that rarest of books, a serious biography that reads not only like a novel, but like a big, romantic, sprawling, over-the-top novel. Gottlieb has made of her story a wonderful book--one, which, to pay it its highest due, any editor, including himself (and me), would give his or her eye-teeth to have published!"--Michael Korda, Daily Beast -- Michael Korda * Daily Beast *'A book that is wise, funny, affectionate and enjoyable as well as blessedly compact.' — John Carey, Sunday Times -- John Carey * Sunday Times *"In his timely new biography, Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt, Robert Gottlieb traces the meteoric, improbable, epic life of the illegitimate daughter of a high-flying Paris courtesan who became the most famous actress in theater history."--Joseph A. Harris, American Spectator -- Joseph A. Harris * American Spectator *"In 'Sarah: The Life of Sarah Berndhardt', Robert Gottlieb presents (his subject) appreciatively, in full color, in all her exuberance, extravagance, beauty, passion and talent. This is the first English-language biography in decades of the first internationally known stage star."--Sandee Brawarsky, New York Jewish Week -- Sandee Brawarsky * New York Jewish Week *"At only 220 pages, Sarah is necessarily a breathless account of a life that would happily occupy a book three times longer; yet it makes for an absorbing, at times fantastical read, and is leavened throughout by a dry wit and affectionate scepticism."—Michael Simkins, Mail on Sunday -- Michael Simkins * Mail on Sunday *"A fabulous story and Gottlieb has produced a brilliant short biography, telling you everything you want to know in 200 pages. He’s especially good at analysing what Sarah’s magic was but there was so much of it you’ll have to read the book to find out."—Duncan Fallowell, Daily Express -- Duncan Fallowell * Daily Express *"Robert Gottlieb is a firmly even-handed biographer and his engagingly zippy account focuses particularly on exposing the cracks in the contradictory stories that Bernhardt and her hagiographers assembled about her life…This is a sterling biography, equal to its subject."—Olivia Laing, The Observer -- Olivia Laing * The Observer *"Although Bernhardt's fame is universal and the literature about her immense, the major postwar English language biographies have long been out of print...Gottlieb's succinct survey is timely"—Rupert Christiansen, Literary Review -- Rupert Christiansen * Literary Review *"Suave, intelligent, always slyly entertaining."—Terry Castle, London Review Of Books -- Terry Castle * London Review Of Books *"A riveting account of a life lived in the spotlight"—Richard Edmonds, Birmingham Post -- Richard Edmonds * Birmingham Post *Honorable Mention in the Biography/Autobiography category of the 2010 Los Angeles Book Festival -- Biography/Autobiography Honorable Mention * Los Angeles Book Festival *"Short, witty and tender…This book is one that your friends and family will actually want to read: a better stocking-topper for the literary-minded is hard to imagine."—Miranda Seymour, The Lady -- Miranda Seymour * The Lady *"Gottlieb does an excellent job describing Bernhardt, making her come alive for the reader or, perhaps more accurately, making her larger-than-life personality seem real. With its general overview of her life, the book serves as a perfect introduction to her personal life and her career."—Rabbi Rachel Esserman, Voice of the Dutchess Jewish Community -- Rabbi Rachel Esserman * Voice of the Dutchess Jewish Community *"Gottlieb shows in this fine, sympathetic biography [that Sarah Bernhardt] put the world on a leash and added it to her own private menagerie."—Betty Smartt Carter, Books & Culture -- Betty Smartt Carter * Books & Culture *"Very readable. . . . Gottlieb holds the reader's interest throughout. . . . [An] excellent biography. . . . Recommended very highly for casual reader as well as for specialists."—Richard Weigel, Pages -- Richard Weigel * Pages *"Robert Gottlieb's biography of Bernhardt is very readable and covers the actress' fascinating life qutie well."—Richard Weigel, Bowling Green Daily News -- Richard Weigel * Bowling Green Daily News *"Gottlieb writes about Bernhardt with convincing respect and sympathy, tempered with quiet amusement at her oddities and excesses. His lucid, conversational, urbane prose is accompanied by numerous illustrations. . . . Gottlieb's Sarah is a fine introduction to a fascinating woman."—Julius Novick, Forward -- Julius Novick * Forward *Received Honorable Mention in the Biography/Autobiography category of the 2010 New England Book Festival -- Biography Honorable Mention * New England Book Festival *"it's an ambitious book, a real doorstopper. . . . You'll learn all manner of facts."—David Wood, Book Report -- David Wood * Book Report *"[Robert Gottlieb] does what few biographers of famous women do: He focuses on her work."—Susan Salter Reynolds, Newsday -- Susan Salter Reynolds * Newsday *"Robert Gottlieb presents her appreciatively, in full color, in all her exuberance, extravagance, beauty, passion and talent."—Sandee Brawarsky, -- Sandee Brawarsky * The Jewish Week *"Gottlieb's Life casts a reassuringly sceptical eye over a plethora of less-than-reliable writings about Berhardt, some of them the actress's own memoirs."—John Nathan, Jewish Chronicle -- John Nathan * Jewish Chronicle *“With panache worthy of his subject, Gottlieb lays out the players as if Bernhardt’s life were a stage drama. His charismatic prose captures the spell of the consummate mythmaker.”—Carol Ockman, coauthor of Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama -- Carol Ockman“Robert Gottlieb sifts through the fiction in this hugely entertaining biography of the theatrical legend, and often casts doubt on the competing accounts of her life with little more than a raised eyebrow.”—Victoria Segal, The Guardian -- Victoria Segal * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA renowned movie critic on film’s treatment of one of mankind’s darkest behaviors: murderTrade Review“[Thomson’s] analysis of death in Hitchcock movies is gorgeous. His restlessness is palpable. There is an anxiety in this brief, hurried book that suits these political and medical times.”—Lisa Schwarzbaum, New York Times Book Review“David Thomson looks at how audiences become complicit in a cinematic ‘warped triangle’ in his provocative Murder and the Movies.”—Choice Magazine“In dissecting homicide’s screen allure, Thomson’s erudite insight dazzles.”—Kevin Harley, Total Film“Thomson’s dive into dependency of movies on murder leads to a surprisingly quiet tone, a conversation of lowered voices: a sense of film enacting some fated, circular history.”—Greil Marcus“Thomson, one of the world’s leading film critics and historians, in his polished, recognizable style (dancing writing, provocative gestures, first person participation), has produced a slim, smart, readable volume on murder, movies, and society.”—Jonathan Kirshner, author of Hollywood’s Last Golden Age“Completely unpredictable, always surprising, always deeply engaging, and always very entertaining. You never know where Thomson may take you. You just know that wherever he does take you will be a wonderful place he will let you discover for yourself.”—Richard Burt, University of Florida

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Book SynopsisA fascinating survey of pioneering work in experimental cinema and art from 1905 to the present day, revealing the high stakes and transformative potential of these forms

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