Böcker av Jennifer Frost

With films ranging from High Noon to Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Stanley Kramer (19132001) was one of the most successful and prolific director-producers of his day. But even as critics praised his courage in taking on such issues as nuclear war, racism, fascism, and the battle between science and religion, others condemned his work as emptily pretentious and hollow, falsely sentimental, overproduced. Whether Kramer was one of the great filmmakers of all time (Kevin Spacey at the Golden Globe Awards) or one of Hollywoods worst directors (preeminent film critic Andrew Sarris in The Village Voice), he had a strong and undeniable influence on American culture during the Cold War. Producer of Controversy is the first book to take a close-up look at Kramers career, films, and liberal politics in an effort to explain his contributions and historical significance.Kramer learned filmmaking within the old studio system, but over a career spanning forty years he did much to shape the independent moviemaking that emerged after World War II. Jennifer Frost pays particular attention to four of his key message moviesThe Defiant Ones, On the Beach, Inherit the Wind, and Judgment at Nurembergto show how Kramers controversial films opened up public debate about the most important issues of his timeamong average filmgoers as well as professional critics, political commentators, and public figures. In this context, she for the first time fully documents the Hollywood Rights attacks on Kramer in the 1950s; details his resistance to the anticommunist Red Scare and the Hollywood blacklist; exposes his role as a cultural diplomat with the Soviet Union; and reveals his important contribution to the liberal and radical politics of the 1960s. Her book is at once an absorbing work of cultural history and a thoroughgoing reassessment of Stanley Kramers place in the pantheon of American filmmakers.

This book is a resource for teaching US history using social problem films-"message movies"-as illustrations and tools for student engagement. In addition to covering key themes and concepts, this book provides an overview of significant issues, a tutorial for using film in history classes, user guides for thinking about social problems on screen, and sample exercises and assignments for classroom use.

Gossip is one of the most common, and most condemned, forms of discourse in which we engage - even as it is often absorbing and socially significant, it is also widely denigrated. This volume examines fascinating moments in the history of gossip in America, from witchcraft trials to People magazine, helping us to see the subject with new eyes.

Illustrates how the conservative gossip maven contributed mightily to the public understanding of film, while providing a platform for women to voice political views within a traditionally masculine public realm.

The first full-fledged history of what was arguably the most innovative community organizing campaign in post-war American history