Showing titles in History & Criticism

Dueling Banjos: The Deliverance of Drew is a collection of stories of the making of the iconic movie, Deliverance, told from the perspective of one of the four main actors in the film, Ronny Cox, who played the character of Drew. Based on the novel by James Dickey, the movie was filmed in the summer of 1971 and was released the following year in 1972. Forty years later, it remains one of the most recognized films in movie history for being raw, emotional, violent and shocking - yet it leaves a lasting impression of artistic excellence.

Even 150 years later, we are haunted by the Civil War---by its division, its bloodshed, and perhaps, above all, by its origins. Today, many believe that the war was fought over slavery. This answer satisfies our contemporary sense of justice, but as Gary W. Gallagher shows in this brilliant revisionist history, it is an anachronistic judgment.

Arrested Development earned six Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, critical acclaim, and a loyal cult following. Fortunately, this book explores the fascinating philosophical issues at the heart of the quirky Bluths and their comic exploits. Whether it's reflecting on Gob's self-deception or digging into Tobias's double entendres, you'll watch your favorite scenes and episodes of the show in a whole new way.

From the national bestselling author of Lord Fear and Class A comes "a tender, humane, comic, brainy, unsettling achievement” (Paul Lisicky, author of The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship) about what it means to live an authentic life and what it means to love a person. In Lucas Mann's...

Love It's a Wonderful Life? No one got more from it than star Jimmy Stewart, who credited the film with giving his life new purpose post-World War II service. Learn the lessons on faith, community, kindness, and more from Stewart and the iconic film with this inspiring gift book. Beloved star...

Wawrczeck zeichnet ein subjektives Porträt eines der größten Künstler des 20. Jahrhunderts. Man sitzt mit ihm vor dem Fernseher, wenn er den ersten Hitchcock-Film sieht, begleitet ihn ins Tonstudio zu den Aufnahmen der "Drei ???" und zieht mit ihm durch die Welt: Von Hamburg über New York, von Bodega Bay nach London, immer auf der Spur von Hitchcocks Meisterwerken. Er erzählt, wie ihm Hitchcocks Filme bei der Suche nach der eigenen Identität halfen und ihm zeigten, dass die Beantwortung der Frage "Bin ich verrückt oder sind es die anderen?" immer vom Standpunkt abhängt.

An Esquire Best Book of 2022! Written with inside access, comprehensive research, and a down-to-earth perspective, Phasers on Stun! chronicles the entire history of Star Trek, revealing that its enduring place in pop culture is all thanks to innovative pivots and radical change. For over five...

Actor Rob Lowe's memoir presents a wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye. A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles...

Years before synchronized sound became the norm, projected moving images were shown to musical accompaniment, whether performed by a lone piano player or a hundred-piece orchestra. Today film music has become its own industry, indispensable to the marketability of movies around the world. Film Music: A Very Short Introduction is a compact, lucid, and thoroughly engaging overview written by one of the leading authorities on the subject. 

He prepared therefore for the meditative journey that proves most excruciating in Limbo, a rounding through the past, a trip back! It is a venture full of perils. To meditate on TV might prove equal to writing a recollection of an enemy one has never met and cannot quite believe in. Indeed, how to conceive of an enemy who is without personal animosity? It was like writing a memoir of an oxymoron. Limbo set its tasks.

ER the book is a deep dive into the show that began the modern medical drama phenomenon, and contains new and original interviews with over 60 people, including John Wells (showrunner of both "ER" and now "The Pitt"), Eriq LaSalle, Noah Wyle (from "ER" and now "The Pitt"), Laura Innes, Ming-Na...

The CIA in Hollywood offers the first full-scale investigation of the relationship between the Agency and the film and television industries. Tricia Jenkins draws on numerous interviews with the CIA's public affairs staff, operations officers, and historians, as well as with Hollywood technical consultants, producers, and screenwriters who have worked with the Agency, to uncover the nature of the CIA's role in Hollywood.

The Boys in the Band's debut was revolutionary for its fictional but frank presentation of a male homosexual subculture in Manhattan. Based on Mart Crowley's hit Off-Broadway play from 1968, the film's two-hour running time approximates real time, unfolding at a birthday party attended by nine men whose language, clothing, and behavior evoke a range of urban gay "types." Although various popular critics, historians, and film scholars over the years have offered cursory acknowledgment of the film's importance, more substantive research and analysis have been woefully lacking. The film's neglect among academics belies a rich and rewarding object of study. The Boys in the Band merits not only the close reading that should accompany such a well-made text but also recognition as a landmark almost ideally situated to orient us amid the highly complex, shifting cultural terrain it occupied upon its release-and has occupied since.

From the creator of the highly popular Kardashian Kolloquium comes a new media manifesto for the TikTok age, blending theory and cultural analysis to explain the meteoric rise of the Kardashians and explore what their fame can teach us about the way media functions today “By far the best book...

Following the adventures of two brothers who investigate deeply strange and paranormal mysteries in their never-ending road trip, the TV show Supernatural has many fans eager to better understand the psychology behind the series' themes and characters. Featuring cast and crew interviews, this collection examines issues at the heart and soul of Supernatural's heroes and foes.

George Miller made his first film, Mad Max, in 1976 after hiring unknown Mel Gibson and editing it in his kitchen. It would become the most profitable film ever made. Miller and Max is the story of two heroes. One, a globally recognised dystopian warrior. The second, the artist who created him. Written with the cooperation of a role call of cast, crew, family and associates, author Luke Buckmaster gets behind the scenes of both the set and the man: revealing the Max in Miller.

James Lowder, veteran editor and author in the horror genre and comics field, collects some of the biggest names in the zombie genre, along with other top horror and comics writers, to discuss the series on both page and screen.

When former government staffer Alisha Aitken-Radburn was given a 'villain edit' on her first season of The Bachelor, she wasn't entirely surprised – there are only a handful of character tropes producers can manipulate into storylines. But the backlash on social media was unexpectedly intense, and Alisha found her sense of identity completely rocked by a single comment: 'You are a bad person'. Determined to shake the 'villain' label, she returned to reality TV screens, and this time, she got a different edit.

The movie director Paul Williams is a real-life Forrest Gump. Williams' experiences form a unique and wild constellation of encounters with star power, political power, and spiritual power, crafting a life cycle that led to fame, fortune, integrity, and anonymity.

Named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews Named a Notable Book of 2025 by the Washington Post A personal and cultural exploration of the struggles between art and business at the heart of modern Hollywood, through the eyes of the talent that shaped it Matthew Specktor grew up in the film...