An Army of Phantoms


Book Description

The film critic’s sweeping analysis of American cinema in the Cold War era is both “utterly compulsive reading [and] majestic” in its “breadth and rigor” (Film Comment). An Army of Phantoms is a major work of film history and cultural criticism by leading film critic J. Hoberman. Tracing the dynamic interplay between politics and popular culture, Hoberman offers “the most detailed year-by-year look at Hollywood during the first decade of the Cold War ever published, one that takes film analysis beyond the screen and sets it in its larger political context” (Los Angeles Review of Books). By “tell[ing] the story not just of what’s on the screen but of what played out behind it,” Hoberman demonstrates how the nation’s deep-seated fears and wishes were projected onto the big screen. In this far-reaching work of historical synthesis, Cecil B. DeMille rubs shoulders with Douglas MacArthur, atomic tests are shown on live TV, God talks on the radio, and Joe McCarthy is bracketed with Marilyn Monroe (The American Scholar). From cavalry Westerns to apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars; from movies to media events, congressional hearings and political campaigns, An Army of Phantoms “remind[s] you what criticism is supposed to be: revelatory, reflective and as rapturous as the artwork itself” (Time Out New York). “An epic . . . alternately fevered and measured account of what might be called the primal scene of American cinema.” —Cineaste “There’s something majestic about the reach of Hoberman’s ambitions, the breadth and rigor of his research, and especially the curatorial vision brought to historical data.” —Film Comment




Hollywood's Cold War


Book Description

Hollywood's Cold War




J. Edgar Hoover and Radicalism in Hollywood


Book Description

Reproduces of the Confidential letters of J. Edgar Hoover, internal and external FBI documents concerning radical artists, writers, actors and musicians investigated beginning in July 28, 1942. Includes censored text (blacked-out).







Hollywood Traitors


Book Description

“This is the book we’ve been waiting for! The true story of the much mythologized ‘Hollywood Ten’ by a scion of Hollywood royalty.” — Ann Coulter, author of twelve New York Times bestsellers, including Adios America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hell-Hole “Coming from one who has not only studied the postwar period in Hollywood but actually lived in it, Hollywood Traitors offers a rare perspective that is sure to prompt discussion and re-examination of the time when Stalin drew higher praise in some U.S. motion pictures than he did in Russian films.”—John Gizzi, White House correspondent and chief political colunist, Newsmax “A real-life thriller about the movies, exploding the fifty-year myth that the Hollywood were innocent victims of a witch hunt. Must read for students of Cold War history.”—M. Stanton Evans, author of Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight against America’s Enemies There is a myth about the Hollywood Blacklist. The “Hollywood Ten” were dragged before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and grilled on their associations with Communism, hid behind their Fifth Amendment rights, and refused to name names of Hollywood Communists. They were completely shut out from the filmmaking industry by Congress and considered the heroes of the hour by many in Hollywood. But it’s time to set the record straight. In Hollywood Traitors: Blacklisted Screenwriters—Agents of Stalin, Allies of Hitler, Allan Ryskind reveals how the alleged “victims” of the Hollywood Blacklist were actually ideological thugs: enthusiastic Stalinists committed to bringing about a socialist utopia in America—even by violent revolution. Ryskind, a long-time editor of Ronald Reagan’s favorite publication, Human Events, tells the true story of how these screenwriters prostituted their talent in the service of anti-American, pro-Communist propaganda. Ryskind pens the riveting report from an insider’s perspective. His father, Morrie Ryskind, was a screenwriter in Hollywood and was joined by Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Walt Disney, and others at the forefront of the anti-Communist movement in Hollywood—even at the expense of their careers and reputations. In Hollywood Traitors you will learn: How the Hollywood Communists took their orders straight from the Party headquarters in New York, which in turn took them directly from Stalin’s Comintern, responsible for promoting international revolution How Communists attempted to take over Hollywood trade unions to control the American film industry Many major films clearly toed the Soviet line, including Casablanca, Arise my Love, Paris Falling, and Mission to Moscow.




Congressional Theatre


Book Description

Discusses plays, films, and teleplays responding to the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings.