Average customer rating:
- This is the future of porn studies
- An eye-opening, mind-expanding look at "filth"
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Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America
Laura Kipnis
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
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ASIN: 0822323435 |
Amazon.com
Laura Kipnis, who teaches film at Northwestern University, adopts an unpopular stance: that of speaking for those whose sexual tendencies stray from the acceptable path. As such, she adds a different perspective in the always-raging debate on the role of pornography in America. Among her arguments is that pornography is often overlooked as a class issue, couched instead almost always as a morality matter. Realizing that many of those employed by the sex industry and those who support it are separated by class from those who deem it so unsavory, provides a particular insight into the perspective of those sitting in judgment.
Book Description
In a book that completely changes the terms of the pornography debate, Laura Kipnis challenges the position that porn perpetuates misogyny and sex crimes. First published in 1996, Bound and Gagged opens with the chilling case of Daniel DePew, a man convicted—in the first computer bulletin board entrapment case—of conspiring to make a snuff film and sentenced to thirty-three years in prison for merely trading kinky fantasies with two undercover cops.
Using this textbook example of social hysteria as a springboard, Kipnis argues that criminalizing fantasy—even perverse and unacceptable fantasy—has dire social consequences. Exploring the entire spectrum of pornography, she declares that porn isn’t just about gender and that fantasy doesn’t necessarily constitute intent. She reveals Larry Flynt’s Hustler to be one of the most politically outspoken and class-antagonistic magazine in the country and shows how fetishes such as fat admiration challenge our aesthetic prejudices and socially sanctioned disgust. Kipnis demonstrates that the porn industry—whose multibillion-dollar annual revenues rival those of the three major television networks combined—know precisely how to tap into our culture’s deepest anxieties and desires, and that this knowledge, more than all the naked bodies, is what guarantees its vast popularity.
Bound and Gagged challenges our most basic assumptions about America’s relationship with pornography and questions what the calls to eliminate it are really attempting to protect.
Customer Reviews:
This is the future of porn studies.......1999-06-19
The author of the Kirkus Review (above) states that Kipnis's work would be "more at home at an MLA conference," while at the same time he contends her work is "not likely to inspire the dawning of a new era of pornography studies." But what could signal the dawning of such an era as well as a presentation by Kipnis at an MLA conference? You can't have it both ways, Kirkus.
Besides, Kipnis's essays are not written in the complicated intellectual prose of typical MLA fare. They are very accessible, and due to this fact they were able to open my mind to thinking about pornography in a way I never had before: Why, among all commodities, is porn singled out (as are few others) for specific questions about its moral value and societal worth? And what are the class issues embedded in the porn industry?
Although this chapter strayed a bit from the porn theme, the most enlightening in the piece for me was the chapter on how our culture views fat and fat people. Kipnis talks about cultural taboos and reasons for the demonization of the fat in a way that I've never seen done before. She makes the reader understand why people hate you if you're fat, and why prejudice against fat people is one of the few remaining culturally-sanctioned prejudices, even for the politically-correct, along with classism and prejudice against the mentally ill.
Contrary to Kirkus's view, Kipnis's work is definitely groundbreaking and may lead to further intellectual investigations, into porn, on a level never seen before.
An eye-opening, mind-expanding look at "filth".......1996-11-26
Kipnis adds her distinctive study to the growing chorus of books by women that have defended and explored pornography dispassionately in the last five years. (See, for example, Nadine Strossen's _Defending Pornography_ and Wendy McElroy's _XXX:A Woman's Right to Pornography_.) Kipnis takes as her jumping-off point the case of a gentle, well-behaved gay man who was given a long jail sentence for responding to fantasy bait concocted by the FBI on the Internet; somehow, discussion (read: Orwellian "thought crime") of sex and murder of children translated to hard time in jail. Mere ideas are NOT innocent in this country, after all. [But why don't we jail authors and fans of murder mysteries and true crime books, or at least TRACK them?) She goes on to study the odd byways of pornography: magazines of nude and copulating fat people, geriatric porn, transvestite pornography. If you've never seen such material and tend to assume it must connect to mental illness and criminality, Kipnis will give you much to think about. Her discussion of the ideology and techniques of Hustler magazine is nothing short of brilliant, even for the men -- and we are legion -- who have always found the magazine disgusting or beneath notice. A welcome addition to the public debate over durdy peek-chures
Book Description
With explosive new revelations concerning the "National Security Matter" that led to the cover-up of her murder, The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe is a page-turning account of one of the most shocking crimes of the century. Donald H. Wolfe meticulously chronicles her final days, names the killer, documents the mode of death, and identifies those who orchestrated the cover-up. The pieces of the puzzle regarding Monroe's mysterious death finally lock in place with the testimony of the remaining two key witnesses who have come forward for the first time.
Assistant District Attorney John Miner, present at the autopsy, reveals his secret interview with Dr. Ralph Greenson, Monroe's psychiatrist. He also explains why Marilyn Monroe was a homicide victim, and why he is calling for a new investigation and the exhumation of her body.
Newly discovered CIA and FBI files document the dark secret in Marilyn's relationship with the Kennedys, the truth behind her break-up with the President, the shocking facts about the star's last weekend at Cal-Neva, and the many bizarre events that took place at Marilyn's home the day she died.
Customer Reviews:
about the "late" Marilyn Monroe.......2007-02-25
Hi ! I may be wrong but I don't think Don got it right this time - his book on the Black Dahlia, on the contrary, is by far the most convincing that was ever written on the subject. What killed Marilyn is most probably a serial killer that I happen to have encountered myself. His name is nervous breakdown. But why for godsake did Peter Lawford introduced her as the "late" Marilyn Monroe at Kennedy's birthday party ONLY 3 months before she died and would for ever be referred to as the late Marilyn Monroe ? Was it a most cynical inside joke given the fact that - as we know it now - he and his brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy are rumoured to have visited Monroe on the day she died ?
murdered or not mr. wolfe doesn't tell real story not profitable for him.......2006-06-01
Nancy Miracle wrote the real story and Mr. Wolfe stole what he could the only real story is told and available through the marilyn monroe foundation marilyn monroe had a real life and that real life is available =through the marilyn monroe foundation only
Card Carrying Psychiatrist?.......2005-10-22
I share the concern of amazon reviewer Thomas Hughes that author Donald Wolfe accuses people close to Marilyn of being communists.
This didn't detract much from Mr. Hughes' love of the book, but it sure gives me a problem.
The 2005 movie "Good Night And Good Luck" spells out the danger of accusing people of communist tendencies. Donald Wolfe should watch it.
I can try to defend just one of the deceased victims of Mr. Wolfe's witch hunt. Dr. Ralph Greenson was the best known psychoanalyst in California in the 1950s and 60s. He was a professor at the UCLA medical school in that era before David Geffen put his name all over it.
I simply cannot believe that Dr. Greenson attended Communist Party meetings as late as 1962 when he counselled Marilyn as the last months of her life ticked away. He also supported JFK, so why support a leader who tries to overthrow communism in Cuba?
UCLA probably was just as bureaucratic and underfunded in 1962 as it is today, but it's a real stretch to think that a professor at the medical school endorsed communism. Then I'm supposed to believe that he hired one Eunice Murray to spy on Marilyn on behalf of the party?!?
Don't get me wrong, I accept that Jack and Bobby used women as toys including Marilyn. But the Communist Party could care less about that.
mr. spoto is insidious he mentions nancy miracle but in such a way as to discredit her real story.......2005-09-13
he tries in this book but fails and because he just researched the old story through the old hollywood lies but when he does mention nancy maniscalco her real daughter and in such a way as if she were related to the kennedy's it makes one sick what a sellout if he was that close to the reality and then went for the old crapola see www.marilynmonroefoundation.com for how to get the real uncensored story of the real woman and her daughter published by the marilyn monroe foundation
Don was right!.......2005-08-07
Donald Wolfe nailed the theory of Marilyn's death years ago....I know him personally....no one cared then and his book sat idle. This book tells it as it probably was. Good job Don.....you finally have the answers......
Book Description
Focusing on ten films that span the range of the twentieth century, Thomas Leitch traces the transformation of three figures common to all crime films: the criminal, the victim and the avenger. He shows how the distinctions among them become blurred throughout the course of the century, reflecting and fostering a deep social ambivalence towards crime and criminals. The criminal, victim and avenger characters effectively map the shifting relations between subgenres (such as the erotic thriller and the police film) within the larger genre of crime film.
Download Description
This book surveys the entire range of crime films, including important subgenres such as the gangster film, the private eye film, film noir, as well as the victim film, the erotic thriller, and the crime comedy. Focusing on ten films that span the range of the twentieth century, Thomas Leitch traces the transformation of the three leading figures that are common to all crime films: the criminal, the victim and the avenger. Analyzing how each of the subgenres establishes oppositions among its ritual antagonists, he shows how the distinctions among them become blurred throughout the course of the century. This blurring, Leitch maintains, reflects and fosters a deep social ambivalence towards crime and criminals, while the criminal, victim and avenger characters effectively map the shifting relations between subgenres, such as the erotic thriller and the police film, within the larger genre of crime film that informs them all.
Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, December 1999: It took the French, with their word for "dark," to give an identity to an important mystery sub-genre. Something more than hard-boiled, noir--whether in film, book, or television--must also speak to a sense of existential nihilism, where betrayal is how romance best expresses itself and fear is only another name for foreplay. But while we all now know what noir is, when it was starting to coalesce as a coherent style back in the 1940s and early 1950s, it was more spontaneous, less self-conscious. It was wholly representative of a world then at war, not just with visible enemies, but with unseen ones as well.
Editors Gorman, Server, and Greenberg have brought together a fine galaxy of contributors (among them, William F. Nolan, James Sallis, Mike Ripley, Bill Pronzini, Gary Lovisi, Max Allan Collins, and many more) to cover the waterfront in all areas of noir artistry. Even Stephen King weighs in with a tribute to Jim Thompson, wonderfully titled "Warning! Warning! Hitchhikers May Be Escaped Lunatics!" (Thompson fans will get the joke.) Charles Willeford, Chester Himes, Patricia Highsmith, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Orson Welles, John D. MacDonald, Leigh Brackett, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Gunn, Joe Friday, Lew Archer, and Lawrence Block--they're all here, and more, of course. It's 386 pages deep in noir references, lore, and opinions. But of special interest to book collectors are the chapters on the old publishers and imprints: Lion Books, Gold Medal, and others. There are conversations too, among them a rare chat with cult favorite Peter Rabe (who died in 1990), an interview with the always lively and urbane Donald E. Westlake, and a talk with Abraham Polonsky (screenplay writer, director, and blacklistee). Even kid stuff is not exempt from the bleak world of noir. Ron Goulart explores comic book noir, and, as a well-respected expert in the field of comics and cartoon strips, leads us back to such forgotten figures as "Steel Sterling," "Madam Satan," and "Johnny Dynamite."
If you've ever enjoyed a book by James Ellroy, Jim Thompson, or Richard Stark, or any movie with Veronica Lake or Lizabeth Scott, this book is not to be missed. --Otto Penzler
Customer Reviews:
A great reference.......2002-05-02
If you're looking for an intriguing, informative, and overall enjoyable reference work on both noir fiction and film, look no further. The Big Book of Noir, co-edited by Lee Server and Ed Gorman, is chock full of terrific pieces on great directors and writers including Cornell Woolrich, A.I. Bezzerides (writer of the classics Kiss Me Deadly, On Dangerous Ground, and Thieves' Highway), Harry Whittington, Peter Rabe, Fritz Lang, Leigh Brackett, Gil Brewer, Mickey Spillane, and many more.
One of the best things about the book is that several of the above-mentioned pieces are actually interviews; Lang and Bezzerides fall into this category, as do Daniel Mainwaring (writer of Out of the Past), Abraham Polonsky (writer of Force of Evil), Peter Rabe, Charles Willeford, and Donald Westlake.
Several of the non-interview pieces are written by some of the best known writers in suspense fiction around including Stephen King (on Jim Thompson), William Nolan, Ed Gorman, Barry Malzberg, Bill Pronzini, and Max Allan Collins. Other pieces are firsthand accounts--by Leigh Brackett and Malvin Wald (writer of Naked City).
There's an interesting checklist of 100 favorite noir films (including a few by Jean-Pierre Melville, one of the all-time great French directors--a powerful inspiration for Tarantino), another checklist of 100 noir novels, and even a section on noir comics!
The Radio and TV section goes into Peter Gunn, of course, but also mentions the lesser-known (and by all accounts, far more interesting) Johnny Staccato which starred John Cassevetes who was infinitely edgier than Craig Stevens' Gunn character.
These guys have done their homework and more, and it definitely shows. It's a shame this book is out of print; it's terrific!
Essential.......2002-03-15
A wonderful collection featuring some of the world's best noir scholars and historians. There's a wealth of information between these covers, but the book is worth its weight in platinum for the magnificent, definative essay on Gil Brewer written by Bill Pronzini.
This one walks the walk, not just talks the talk........1998-11-03
As the lowly web guy behind The Thrilling Detective Web Site, I'm always looking for good reference books, and this one's a keeper! It collects some of the very best articles, essays and critiques in one handy volume, covering everything from film and fiction to radio, television and comics. Passionate, diverse, opinionated, cranky, illuminating and enlightening, it's like a Greatest Hits of Noir Criticism.
Book Description
Combining film history and social history, Kevin Brownlow surveys the treatment of contemporary social problems by film directors and producers in the early part of the century. This is the definitive history of silent films, documenting many that have been lost or forgotten.
Customer Reviews:
MR. BROWNLOW DOES IT AGAIN.......2000-01-13
Another awesome achievement by Kevin Brownlow. A fascinating and informative document for everyone who cherishes the silent film era.
Another must-have book from Kevin Brownlow!.......1999-02-14
This is a fabulous book, covering some of the more risque elements of the silent film era, as well as covering political issues. Loved Mr. Brownlow's coverage of HYPOCRITES (1915), a Lois Weber film which exists but is unfortunately as yet inaccessible on video. Can't wait for his Mary Pickford coffee table book to come out, hopefully in the next few months!
Amazon.com
Not only is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls the best book in recent memory on turn-of-the-'70s film, it is beyond question the best book we'll ever get on the subject. Why? Because once the big names who spilled the beans to Biskind find out that other people spilled an equally piquant quantity of beans, nobody will dare speak to another writer with such candor, humor, and venom again.
Biskind did hundreds of interviews with people who make the president look accessible: Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Geffen, Beatty, Kael, Towne, Altman. He also spoke with countless spurned spouses and burned partners, alleged victims of assault by knife, pistol, and bodily fluids. Rather more responsible than some of his sources, Biskind always carefully notes the denials as well as the astounding stories he has compiled. He tells you about Scorsese running naked down Mulholland Drive after his girlfriend, crying, "Don't leave me!"; grave robbing on the set of Apocalypse Now; Faye Dunaway apparently flinging urine in Roman Polanski's face while filming Chinatown; Michael O'Donoghue's LSD-fueled swan dive onto a patio; Coppola's mad plan for a 10-hour film of Goethe's Elective Affinities in 3-D; the ocean suicide attempt Hal "Captain Wacky" Ashby gave up when he couldn't find a swimsuit that pleased him; countless dalliances with porn stars; Russian roulette games and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs. But he also soberly gives both sides ample chance to testify.
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is also more than a fistful of dazzling anecdotes. Methodically, as thrillingly as a movie attorney, Biskind builds the case that Hollywood was revived by wild ones who then betrayed their own dreams, slit their own throats, and destroyed an art form by producing that mindless, inhuman modern behemoth, the blockbuster.
When Spielberg was making the first true blockbuster, Jaws, he sneaked Lucas in one day when nobody was around, got him to put his head in the shark's mechanical mouth, and closed the shark's mouth on him. The gizmo broke and got stuck, but the two young men somehow extricated Lucas's head and hightailed it like Tom and Huck. As Peter Biskind's scathing, funny, wise book demonstrates, they only thought they had escaped. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
In 1969, a low-budget biker movie, Easy Rider, shocked Hollywood with its stunning success. An unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (onscreen and off), Easy Rider heralded a heady decade in which a rebellious wave of talented young filmmakers invigorated the movie industry. In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind takes us on the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s, an era that produced such modern classics as The Godfather, Chinatown, Shampoo, Nashville, Taxi Driver, and Jaws. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls vividly chronicles the exuberance and excess of the times: the startling success of Easy Rider and the equally alarming circumstances under which it was made, with drugs, booze, and violent rivalry between costars Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda dominating the set; how a small production company named BBS became the guiding spirit of the youth rebellion in Hollywood and how, along the way, some of its executives helped smuggle Huey Newton out of the country; how director Hal Ashby was busted for drugs and thrown in jail in Toronto; why Martin Scorsese attended the Academy Awards with an FBI escort when Taxi Driver was nominated; how George Lucas, gripped by anxiety, compulsively cut off his own hair while writing Star Wars, how a modest house on Nicholas Beach occupied by actresses Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt became the unofficial headquarters for the New Hollywood; how Billy Friedkin tried to humiliate Paramount boss Barry Diller; and how screenwriter/director Paul Schrader played Russian roulette in his hot tub. It was a time when an "anything goes" experimentation prevailed both on the screen and off. After the success of Easy Rider, young film-school graduates suddenly found themselves in demand, and directors such as Francis Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese became powerful figures. Even the new generation of film stars -- Nicholson, De Niro, Hoffman, Pacino, and Dunaway -- seemed a breed apart from the traditional Hollywood actors. Ironically, the renaissance would come to an end with Jaws and Star Wars, hugely successful films that would create a blockbuster mentality and crush innovation. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age. Never before have so many celebrities talked so frankly about one another and about the drugs, sex, and money that made so many of them crash and burn. By turns hilarious and shocking, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is the ultimate behind-the-scenes account of Hollywood at work and play.
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't put it down - I grew up admiring these characters..........2007-02-23
Firstly - I don't think that this book should be mistaken for a spiteful Paul-Johnson-type of takedown of Great Men...Biskind's not a curmudgeon, and I see no evidence of a Grand Thesis in this book smashing down facts to fit the preconceived mold...
I'm made to remember, as I first read & then occasionally re-read this book, that the Seventies was not just the time in which the putative counter-cultural forces stormed & took the tired old film studio citadel (and in the process became, many of them, boring old farts struggling for relevance); nor was it simply the time in which Spielberg & Lucas hatched the modern Big Blockbuster--but it was also the age of the invention of the super-auteur, the well-advertised & vaunting "maverick" filmmaker who compulsively pointed up to the stands every time he came up at bat (Bogdanovich & Coppola, most egregiously)...The super-stardom of these people arrives with the mainstreaming of know-how fetishism, and the over-valuation of the film artiste - the ascension of film-schools, making-of docs, horserace reports on box-office grosses, and so on...Much of what has been taken for slimy "gossip" in this book seems, on reflection, to be intimately connected with the films themselves: and in some wild cases ("Days of Heaven"; "Apocalypse Now"), the prodigal wasn't bankrupted & chastened, but came back home a star...
That said - I'm grateful for Biskind's hard treatment of Altman, and of Paul Schrader--they were begging for it...I don't understand why he treats Robert Towne's "Personal Best" as an ignominous all-'round failure--it REALLY wasn't that bad!
Juicy and exciting read.......2007-01-17
This book reads straight from the gossip columns. It's a fun, juicy read that you won't be able to put down. Peter Biskind gives you a sneek-peek behind Oz's curtain to see the nitty gritty lives of people like Scorsese, Speilberg, Copolla and Lucas. This won't be "classic literature," but you will find it exciting, addicting and a definate page-turner! Read this book just for the fun of it!
Not Recieved, No Refund.......2007-01-04
They say they sent it to my address, but i never recieved it. I called them. they told me they sent it, and did not offer further help.
Great in spite of itself.......2006-09-17
Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS is destined to become a pop-culture classic, of a problematic sort for sure, but a classic still.
Biskind's research is formidable - the current academic revival of interest in the career of the late Hal Ashby was probably instigated by this book - this alone is an indication of how throrough a cultural chronicle of 70s 'New Hollywood' this work really is. It has obviously been taken very seriously in some quarters, and for all of its' academic impact, it also managed to become an improbable bestseller.
It's also one of those things that you love, and slot into a sort of 'guilty pleasure' category; Biskind balances his exhaustive cinema-historical research with equally exhaustive tales of sex-and-drug debauchery, though ultimately the avalanche of tittilating tawdriness does serve something of a purpose, in illustrating how certain individuals responsible for reinventing and reinvigorating Hollywood at the beginning of the 70s were also sowing the seeds of their own demise by the end of the same decade.
Biskind structures the book in emulation of one of the key players illuminated within - the entire book is structured like an Altman film, shifting gradually between a great cast of contradictory, combative characters (Hal Ashby as the moral center of it all), with the many historical narratives weaving together at the end. Along the way, he engages in a little bit of analysis (not enough, but understandable, given all else that is going on here), tracing the shadows of Nixon and Vietnam through films as seemingly disparate as "The Exorcist," "Jaws," "The Godfather," "Star Wars" and "The Conversation."
Overall, an essential piece of American cultural history.
-David Alston
The Godfather of New Hollywood Books.......2006-06-23
One can tell just by watching the films of directors such as Coppola, Scorcese, Friedkin and all the others that made up the New Hollywood of the 1970's, that they were infused with a streak of arrogance. Many films that were full of pretence and repulsive characters, but that nevertheless embodied a new spirit of American auterism, brought about by a new found European sensibility and a shift in power from producers to directors. So its no surprise that Peter Biskind's detailed and intriguing read, reveals these directors to be monstrous human beings. Power hungry, tin pot dictators fuelled by drugs, alcohol and sex. Somehow despite the lines of coke and the absurd sums of money that went flowing around, some of the greatest films in American cinema appeared. Biskind's enthusiasm for this period comes across and it helps that he lived through it and his book is filled with a great deal of insightful social commentary, his reading of STAR WARS for example is quite interesting. However he does tend to overcook the political and allegorical side of his critique. At times the book becomes a bit too gossipy and academics and film students might be put off by the tales of back stabbing and drug abuse. But, this does give the book a spark, which separates it from the more impenetrable and theory based books on the same subject. It is precisely because of Biskind's talky and down to earth prose that makes the book such a joy. There is a great deal of value to this book and after reading it you cannot view the films of this period in quite the same way. Enjoyable from start to finish.
Book Description
This is the true story of a little piece of 8mm film made in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas. Abraham Zapruder's 26-second home movie captured in horrific clarity the public murder of the President. His six-foot long filmstrip soon became one of the most monetarily valuable artifacts in world history, and arguably "the most historic film ever shot." Zapruder's film and its subsequent study and interpretation by government investigations, the mass media and thousands of assassination buffs, is a controversial and convoluted tale. Richard Trask puts the film's significance into a readable context and displays how this small slice of historic reality has become the image by which the Kennedy assassination will forever be remembered.
Customer Reviews:
As Satisfying An Experience As You Will Find, Period!.......2006-05-16
I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Von Pein's extremely comprehensive review. If you are into the photographic and film record of the Kennedy Assassination, as I am, than Mr. Trask's published works will satisfy your desire for an in-depth analysis of the major photos and films taken during the November 21st-November 22nd period of time. All three of his books are worth the investment for the wealth of photos they contain and the analysis of those photos.
As to NATIONAL NIGHTMARE, I liken it to that first cup of cold water after a long run. It is satisfying and quenches the thirst. Mr. Trask approaches the history of the film and his analysis of it with no agenda. He is not out to change anyone's mind as to "who dun it," unlike David R. Wrone, who does a good job of describing the history of the film in THE ZAPRUDER FILM: REFRAMING JFK'S ASSASSINATION, but then goes off into the wacky world of Zapruder film tampering by unknown conspirators. I consider myself a historian, an as such, am much more impressed with Mr. Trask's objective approach to his subject. One gets the impression that he discounts the conspiracy theories in favor of the Warren Commission findings, but it serves as an undercurrent, not as a presumptious raison d'etre for the existence of the book. Mr. Trask simply presents the photographic record in wonderful detail, leaving the theories for the reader to muddle over.
This is really an extaordinary book, and my hope is the Mr. Trask (I hope you're reading this, sir) publishes a book of all 400+ frames of the Zapruder film in the largest, clearest, most colorful format that technology can provide and takes a page to analyze each frame of the film. One frame per page accompanied by a page of analysis would amount to a holy grail of sorts for me and no doubt for all those who understand the importance of analyzing the history of November 22, 1963 through the numerous photographs and films taken on that day.
Another First-Rate Effort By Mr. Trask .... All You Could Ever Want To Know About The Zapruder Film Is In Here.......2006-01-15
I love reading Richard Trask's books about the JFK assassination; and this one, published in late October 2005, is certainly no exception. It's very informative and definitely a worthy addition to anyone's collection of written materials surrounding the shocking murder of President John Kennedy in November of 1963.
"National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home Movie And The Murder Of President Kennedy" is a softcover volume containing 392 pages packed with just about every conceivable piece of information revolving around the infamous 26-second color motion-picture film taken by Dallas dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963, which is a film which shows, in all its morbid detail, the assassination of an American President in broad daylight on a city street in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. Trask details the full history of the film and provides a good deal of background and biographical information on Mr. Zapruder, an ordinary Dallas businessman, born in Russia, who, by pure happenstance and coincidence, turned out to be the amateur filmmaker whose name will forever be associated with the death of JFK.
But, if it weren't for the prodding of his secretary, Lillian Rogers (who encouraged Zapruder to go back home and retrieve his 8mm Bell-&-Howell movie camera shortly before the President's motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza), that brief and awful 26 seconds in history would probably have never been captured through Mr. Zapruder's lens.
Like Richard Trask's other books on the JFK assassination which focus attention on the photographic aspect of the tragedy, the text of "National Nightmare" is ever-readable, easily-understood, and refreshingly-non-biased when it comes to taking a "Conspiracy vs. No Conspiracy" position by the author. Mr. Trask lays out the facts and leaves it at that.
This book's endnotes/footnotes are all positioned at the back of the book in one separate section, so as to not clutter up the main text of the volume. (So keeping two bookmarks handy is recommended, because a lot of interesting info can be gleaned from some of these endnotes too.)
One big surprise to this writer when perusing this book was seeing a COLOR version of the Robert Croft photograph printed on Page 67 (within a 16-page spread of mostly all-color photos and Zapruder Film frames). I had never seen the Croft picture in color previously. And it's an excellent-quality print of that famous amateur photo that I found in this volume, too. The picture is needle-sharp and the color is virtually perfect.
The Croft photo, by the way, depicts the President's limousine on Elm Street, just after the car has made its sharp left turn from Houston Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository. It was taken at a point equivalent to Zapruder frame #161 (per this book's text and captions), which is just about the time the first gunshot was being fired in Dealey Plaza.
Other highly-recommended publications authored by Richard B. Trask (centering on the photography of President Kennedy's assassination) ..... "Pictures Of The Pain" (1994) and "That Day In Dallas" (1998). The latter is a condensed version of the former, focusing attention on just three of the photographers who took pictures in Dallas on the day JFK was killed (Cecil Stoughton, James Altgens, and Jim Murray).*
* = Although condensed into a smaller number of pages than that of its predecessor "POTP", "That Day In Dallas" does contain "revised and enlarged" material throughout its limited number of chapters. And the specific photographs represented within that volume are unrivaled in their clarity and quality of physical presentation, in this writer's personal opinion.
I truly enjoyed both of those books, and was very glad to see "That Day In Dallas" come out a few years after "POTP", because "That Day" provides a larger-print format for many excellent-quality assassination-related photographs, including several pictures you're not likely to see in any other book on the subject.
As a companion piece to "National Nightmare", I would also recommend highly the MPI Home Video DVD "Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film" (released in the summer of 1998), which contains four "digital" versions of the entire 26-second Zapruder Film in various formats, including "zoomed-in" variants and a previously-unseen "Widescreen" version of the movie, which includes the imagery between the "sprocket holes" from Mr. Zapruder's "camera original" film.
That DVD also contains some valuable and collectible "bonus" video programming, including interviews with Zapruder associates, as well as the March 1975 "Good Night America" program (hosted by Geraldo Rivera), during which U.S. audiences first saw the horrifying images of Mr. Zapruder's movie. The DVD also has a crystal-clear video copy of the Live interview that Abraham Zapruder gave on WFAA-TV just hours after he had filmed the assassination.
Many of the above-mentioned items from that "Image Of An Assassination" DVD are also referenced by Mr. Trask throughout the well-written pages of "National Nightmare".
---------------
In "National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film", Richard Trask has admirably filled in yet another in a seemingly-never-ending series of pieces of subject matter that comprise the wide and varied fabric that form the mosaic of literature covering the topic of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Nowhere can be found a more detailed and fact-based history of Abraham Zapruder's historic film than that which resides within these 392 pages.
Average customer rating:
- A Book for refining your art knowledge
- Good but not Perfect Book on Crime Noir
- Really Captures the Mood.
- Thank God... no shades of gray!
- Book Title Should Read "Good Examples of Comic Art"...
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Drawing Crime Noir: For Comics and Graphic Novels
Christopher Hart
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0823023990
Release Date: 2006-07-01 |
Book Description
• Strong, cutting-edge imagery shows artists how to make crime pay
• Superstar author Christopher Hart explores a new genre
• Perfect for anyone interested in drawing for comic books or graphic novels
Aspiring artists, lonely, desperate—this is your chance to grab the gold ring of the hottest style around: noir. Windswept streets, dark shadowy figures, reckless women, gleaming pistols, men without conscience, boulevards of fear...they're all here in Drawing Crime Noir. Extensive instruction, including a complete tutorial on how to turn an ordinary comic-book scene into a crime noir scene, shows how to create the moody world of noir, from using shadows to create intense moods and suspense, to drawing the swirling capes and cloaked faces of tormented superheroes; the trench coats and dark glasses of nihilistic antiheroes; the dark suits of mobbed-up politicians on the take and the hit men who keep order; and the form-fitting dresses and snakeskin shoes of the sexy women who would kill a man as soon as kiss him.
Customer Reviews:
A Book for refining your art knowledge.......2007-09-28
Many images. Little explanation.
As another reviewer wrote, Watson-Guptill is very good at cutting cost in producing books.
Christopher Hart books are theme-centered books designed with publishers to titill you curiosity and your wish to study art.
His books are only complemental books. No foundation of study/construction here. Its marketing hype just like the almigthy marketing power of microsoft.
If you want to study art seriously, get the real bibles of Art by Andrew loomis.
1.Figure drawing for all it's worth
2.Drawing the Head and Hands
3.Successful Drawing
4.Creative Illustration
5.Fun with a Pencil
I would not be surprised if Christopher Hart himself studied from Andrew Loomis.
Beware though, Watson-Guptill has done it again!!!!!
The revered Drawing the Head and Hands has been trimmed to another book Drawing: The Head (HT197) of only 32 pages and
Figure drawing for all it's worth trimmed to Drawing: Figures in Action (HT191)
Get the genuine ones. They are pricey but it's worth every penny of your cash!
NB: It's a pity these loomis books don't have a 'search inside' facility.
Many students are passing by just because they can't get an evaluation of the contents.
Good but not Perfect Book on Crime Noir.......2007-07-09
Chris Hart's Drawing Crime Noir for Comics/Graphic Novels is a good place to start, well to be honest its the only book I know of to start with if you are interested in the crime noir in the style of Steranko, Miller, Mignola, etc.
This book has some great points, and some nice examples, but it also leaves some information lacking. Hart sets this book up similar to a kid's super hero drawing book(yes, I know he does those too, perhaps thats why he's in the habit), but with a bit more depth. I love where he shows typical crime noir effects, big shadows of villians overcasting on the victim, the shadowed bars of the blinds crossing someone's face, etc, etc. One additional problem is that his art goes has a wide range of skill. Its as though he started drawing some really awesome art for the book, and slowly realized he was running out of time and started rushing his work into simplified doodles almost.
You might be just better off immersing yourself in film noir movies, and books like Hellboy, Sin City, 100 Bullets, Road To Perdition, etc. But if you have the cash and want something to thumb through for inspiration, go for the book.
I guess I'm just used to higher end comic related drawing books like DCs Guide to Coloring and Lettering, and Wizards How To Draw; but this is still worth a look.
Really Captures the Mood. .......2007-07-01
I bought this book first, and have since bought 4 of Chris's other books, so I like his stuff.
This book however is the best, perhaps its just because the characters are the most real, and Im a bit old for superhero's. But I think its more that for all the work I've seen, this is simply the most convincing. Every drawing in the book is worth doing a study of, and it really makes one wish Chris would pick up the challenge of pulling the characters he created for this book together in a story and venture a graphic novel of his own.
Chris presents some wonderful drawings in both their penciled and inked presentations. I prefer the Pencil drawings, but I tend to be biased that way, I prefer the subtly possible in pencil to the starkness of ink. Noir however uses a lot of Ink, really deep expressive shadows, and Chris displays a great mastery of the form.
Thank God... no shades of gray!.......2007-06-10
First, this is NOT a how-to-draw book: this is a how-to-INK book. And a very good one. Second, you get eight different artists (including Hart), each with its own style. That's good. And third, no shades of gray, thank you very much: only pure black over the pure white paper. And that's... grrreat! And includes many pencilled drawings, for you to Xerox and try a good brush on them (for private use only, you understand. Never try to distribute, not even for free, copyrighted material).
I bought a book from Hogart, and another from DC comics, on the subject of inking. These are fine books, but for learning purposes, this one beats them all. And don't think that this book is good only for "crime noir" comics. If you take a look at "The Simpsons" (Bongo Comics) you'll see the same techniques covered here...
Book Title Should Read "Good Examples of Comic Art"..........2007-02-18
Honestly, that's what it is - a book full of nice examples of comic art, specifically dealing with noir atmosphere.
Same problem affects all books, written by Mr. Hart - they're amazing, if you will look at them as just coffee table books. Unfortunately, they're marketed as books that are supposed to teach you how to draw and it won't happen, judging by the fact that there are very few comments related to drawing process itself.
So 1 star for marketing, 4 (or 5) stars for pictures.
My advice is this - borrow it from the library, but don't spend 20 dollars on it, unless you want a coffee table book.
Book Description
When the head of Columbia Pictures, David Begelman, got caught forging Cliff Robertson's name on a $10,000 check, it seemed, at first, like a simple case of embezzlement. It wasn't. The incident was the tip of the iceberg, the first hint of a scandal that shook Hollywood and rattled Wall Street. Soon powerful studio executives were engulfed in controversy; careers derailed; reputations died; and a ruthless, take-no-prisoners corporate power struggle for the world-famous Hollywood dream factory began.
First published in 1982, this now classic story of greed and lies in Tinseltown appears here with a stunning final chapter on Begelman's post-Columbia career as he continued to dazzle and defraud . . . until his last hours in a Hollywood hotel room, where his story dramatically and poignantly would end.
Customer Reviews:
The Ultimate Study in Greed and Hubris.......2007-04-05
I bought this book when it first came out and have reread it every year or so. Tends to be a bit long and sometimes slow, but it's great. Buy a used copy, or check at the library.
Being from the Washington D.C. area I kept constantly asking why someone didn't leak this to the press and blow the whole compiristy.
The only comparable book is "The Great Salad Oil Swindle"
Domino Effect.......2004-04-08
David Begelman, powerful head of a studio thinks he is above the law, until an actor by the name of Cliff Robertson exposes him. This book is a well written tale of immorality in a town known for it's lack of scruples. Hollywood insiders should not be surprised at this tale, but I was. The check Begelman forged was for a small amount. The man made more than that in a month. The book exposes the reasons why a man who had it all, would choose to commit such a crime and fall from grace. I was quite disappointed by Robertson's treatment by Hollywood's hierarchy when he was the victim, not Begelman. But it proves just how far studios will go to protect the bottom line. I read this book when it was first published years ago and I'm reading it again. The list of books I will read more than once is a short one. I highly recommend it.
Good Coverage of Major Scandal!.......2003-11-30
This book gives details of David Begelman the head man at
Columbia Pictures getting caught forging Cliff Robertson's name
on a check. Robertson had won an Oscar for his role in Charly.
As a result of Begelman getting caught Roberetson would suffer
mightily at the hands of the powerful in Hollywood.Cliff Robertson wound up being blacklisted as a result of this scandal.This scandal would send shockwaves from Hollywood to
Wall Street.You are given a complete coverage of this event in
this excellent book.You are given good coverage of some of the
individuals who were involved in this scandal.David Begelman's demise is also given coverage in this book.This is an excellent book on this event. Read it. You will not be dissapointed.
Cliff Robertson is the true star of this story........1998-06-06
David Begelman would never have been exposed as the crook he was without the dogged, principled determination of Cliff Robertson to get to the bottom of corruption at the top levels of Hollywood. This excellent book documents Robertson's heroic efforts to get at the truth -- for which he was blackballed by the Hollywood establishment for years. Cliff once said to me: "Of all the things in my life I'm proud of -- if I'm proud at all -- it's not winning the best actor Oscar or Emmy; it's my part in bringing down that crook Begelman."
But perhaps the book is most valuable for its exposure of the top echelon of Hollywood -- people with lots of money and no taste; people who know nothing whatever about movies. And could care less. I hope this book is reprinted soon. It is timeless.
A fascinating study of the real powers of Tinseltown........1997-11-27
First things first. This book only gets an "8" becuase I realize some people could care less about studio executives in Hollywood(unless their name is Julia Phillips or Steven Speilberg, both of whom make appearences in the book) but it truly is a ten. It is truly an amazing tale: what starts out as a theft of less then a $100, 000 becomes a battle for corporate power. David Begelman, the man behind the scandal, isn't even the main character of the book. It's Alan Hirschfield trying, desperately, to do the responible business decisions he was hired to do and is one of only a few major players in this detailed history to remain a completely sympathetic person by story's end. Indecent Exposure is truly is one of great true life American Dramas I have ever read. (Review by Michael Goodman)
Customer Reviews:
Finally the whole story.......2007-03-27
This book touched me. Not only does it give you insite in to what really happened that terrible night so long ago, but insight into who Marilyn Monroe really was and some of the reasons behind some of the things she did. The inter-linking of people that entered her life, the Kennedy's, her childhood, marriages, and the details of that terrible night of her death (murder to be sure) are all there. There have been so many books on Marilyn Monroe and speculation of how she died. I read it and kept shaking my head that so many people "got away with" so much! The lies, the cover ups, the "lost" evidence. It's all there. You can't help but feel sorry for a woman that just wanted to be loved, and discusted at the way the investigation (what a joke) was handled. People went to their graves with secrets, but the secrets are out now. If you are a Marilyn fan or into conspiracy theories, this is a great book!
Marilyn's Murderers Uncovered!.......2002-04-24
This book was simply superb, and it contained a lot of hidden information unknown to me. For instance, the lovechild between
Marilyn and Kennedy and the scandalous secrets about the ... Kennedys that led to her death. The author has a very introspective view of the complete chaos her life was in during the end, and of treacherous friends who had woven a web of deceit around her plying her with drugs to keep her off balance
and confused. Luring her to Cal-Neva to be sexually abused and silenced by threats if she persisted in pursuing the Kennedys and vowing to hold a tell-all news conferance that would have been the end of Camelot. Oh! the shame of it all, heres a girl who had it all, beauty, fame and fortune but no inner peace for the tortured Norma Jean. For as it says "What does it mean to gain the whole world but lose your soul"!
I highly recommend this book for anyone who holds a good thought
for Marilyn, and is searching for the truth asto how she really
died, laying to rest the lies and coverup of the suicide theory,
kept in place for over forty years. Dynamite!! 3 thumbs up!!!
This is one 'wow' book.......2002-01-22
I have always been fascinated by Marilyn Monroe and often wondered how and why she died so young. There are so many conflicting theories, but the contents of this book are little short of explosive. They may not be correct, though someone must know the truth? Seems never published in the USA. Why not? Has someone got something to hide. Methinks... probably YES!
I would not part with my hardback English copy for $1000.
This is one 'wow' book.......2002-01-22
I have always been fascinated by Marilyn Monroe and often wondered how and why she died so young. There are so many conflicting theroies, but the contents of this book are little short of explosive. They may not be correct, though someone must know the truth? Seems never published in the USA. Why not? Has someone got something to hide. Methinks... probably YES! ....
Books:
- Bring Me That Horizon: (Welcome Book)
- Cinema 2: The Time-Image
- Considering Doris Day
- Contemporary Asian Cinema: Popular Culture in a Global Frame (Asian Cinema)
- Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books)
- Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
- Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition
- Donald Duk: A Novel
- Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzystzof Kieslowski
- Elephant Man
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