More than any other event, WW II transformed the relationship between Hollywood and American culture, Doherty (American Studies/Brandeis) announces at the outset of this uncommonly wide-ranging social history—and proceeds to support his argument with surprising success. Before the war, argues Doherty (Teenagers and Teenpics, 1988—not reviewed), the contract between Hollywood and its audience stipulated a myth of ``pure entertainment'' in which formulaic genres and happy endings reigned supreme. But the contradictory imperatives posed by the war—Hollywood features for the audience back home had to be upliftingly escapist yet honest in their acknowledgment of wartime stresses; film coverage of combat had to be unflinching yet supportive; presentations of women had to emphasize their success in adapting their femininity to heretofore masculine tasks—rewrote that contract in a profoundly equivocal way. With the help of extensive research in studio archives and dozens of illustrative anecdotes, Doherty is especially incisive in showing the transition from the pacifism universally prescribed for WW I movies to the gung-ho partisanship for WW II. He also excels in using Hollywood movies as cloudy mirrors for such social problems as racial injustice, Japanese internship, and the ``properly directed hatred'' that called for fine calculations in distinguishing shifting degrees of hostility toward Germans, Italians, and Japanese as the prewar Hollywood ``tradition of quality''—exemplified by David Selznick's literary adaptations—inched toward the postwar ``issue-oriented stance of Walter Wanger, Stanley Kramer, and Dore Schary.'' Despite the occasional minor blemish (Herblock, not Bill Mauldin, is identified as the creator of cartoon dogfaces Willie and Joe), the scholarship is both sound and unobtrusive. Though Doherty occasionally loses sight of his largest argument in the middle of detailing Jimmy Stewart's war record, this is a model social history of war movies—both a penetrating examination of Hollywood at war and a bracing argument about the effects of the war on the nature of Hollywood entertainment. (Seventy photographs)
Pub Date: Dec. 9, 1993
ISBN: 0-231-08244-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Words to live by.
A man shares the wisdom and inspiration he’s collected throughout his life.
Anthony doesn’t just file away bits of insight whenever he happens upon them; he seeks them out, initiating conversations with other people about life and their own experiences and outlook. In this collection of short essays, the author shares these ideas and stories and what they have meant to him, in hopes that they will inspire others. He argues that successful people largely create their own luck by how they respond to the circumstances around them. Conversely, those who feel that only bad things happen to them help fulfill their own prophecy through their attitude and expectations. Though he was deeply grieved by his mother’s death, the author decided to write this book to work through that pain, to turn that experience into something positive and to help others find better ways to respond to life’s challenges. He asserts that one can begin to change his or her life simply by altering how one looks at each day–as a grind or as an opportunity. He urges readers to appreciate the time they have and to make the most of it by improving themselves and helping others to do so as well. Many of his discussions are illustrated by stories in which he learned something new from someone in his daily life, or he attempted to turn someone around toward a more positive outlook. The essays are interspersed with poems, which offer more emotionally charged meditations on similar themes. He concludes with slightly more stern chapters, addressing how many people approach self-help books as quick fixes, arguing that changing one’s life requires a constant commitment. An outgrowth of his website, SomethingToShare.com, this succeeds because the author’s advice is directly derived from his own experience. Some may perceive his values as old-fashioned, however, particularly those about children and parenting.
Words to live by.Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0931761-25-5
Page Count: 220
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Delightful, welcome nostalgia for a sadly bygone era.
This vivid New York City cultural history records in photographs the story of the Third Avenue elevated train, launched in 1878 as one of the first lines in the city’s rapid-transit systems.
The author’s father, Lothar Stelter, took a myriad of photographs with his Contessa camera in the early ’50s, when he worked as a cable splicer for the New York Telephone Company. Those photos, displayed here a bit too small on each page, demonstrate how teeming and alive this route was in the lifeline of the city. The steam-powered elevated trains had to accommodate the rapid growth of New York at the turn of the century, comprising four routes from Lower Manhattan to 155th Street–though the Third Avenue line would gradually extend into the Bronx–and culminating in peak ridership by 1920, before the more efficient subways began to take over. A nickel fare (up until 1948) ensured its popularity. The Third Avenue El created a distinctive look along a busy thoroughfare, casting a trellis-like pattern onto the street from the overhead webbed ironwork, wooden catwalks and Victorian glasswork in the windows of the stations. The photographer captured the construction details beautifully, and in all kinds of weather, as passengers frozen in period suits and hats gaze down at the street crammed with DeSoto taxis, Studebakers and sidewalk vendors. Chapters follow the journey up Third Avenue, lined by pawn shops, antiques stores and Irish pubs, from Chinatown to Murray Hill to Yorkville to East Harlem. Former residents, shopkeepers and commuters fondly recall here the noisy train that brought them to the Automat at 42nd Street, Wankels Hardware at 88th Street or the Ruppert Brewery at 93rd Street. Next to these arresting images of the city’s history, views of today’s sleekly transformed Third Avenue–the El was demolished in the mid-’50s–seem soulless and monolithic.
Delightful, welcome nostalgia for a sadly bygone era.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9777220-1-3
Page Count: 132
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
