Average customer rating:
- Never Gets Old!
- Not Free SF Reader
- fantastic but realistic images of censorship and happiness
- John Welte's Review
- Pretentious, self-absorbed, and dull
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Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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ASIN: 0345342968
Release Date: 1987-08-12 |
Amazon.com
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."
Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.
Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman
Book Description
Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do....
Download Description
This is Bradbury's best-known novel. The science fiction tale concerns censorship and anti-intellectualism, carried on in an alternate society that conducts huge book burnings as part of the social agenda. It is a spooky and yet uplifting book.
Customer Reviews:
Never Gets Old!.......2007-09-20
With what is going on in Venezuela and the Government takeover of education this book rings true today! In fact, the Firemen would be burning this book too! A great read!
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Watch tv, sheeple.
In the future, books are banned, and drugs and the good old electronic screen are used to keep the population docile and uninformed. Firemen don't put out fires here, they burn books when they are found, in a big macho showy way. One such bloke begins to have doubts about his occupation and society, and breaks away.
fantastic but realistic images of censorship and happiness.......2007-08-21
If you are interested at all in literature, I think this is a must-read. To me, it centers around the notion of censorship and how culture can seemingly determine the sense of happiness which can only really be derived from within. The characters and events seem futuristic in a sense but completely current. The writing style is not 'heavy', but the content certainly is. I believe this book is extremely well written and organized, and very applicable in a time when few people examine the substance underlying the superficial perceptions that are shaped by external forces.
John Welte's Review.......2007-08-19
I started reading Fahrenheit 451 for a summer reading assignment. As I kept reading I really got in to the book. Ray Bradbury did a great job describing the characters. The book is about a future world that gives you a glimpse of what our world would be like without books. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a book with some action and a great story.
Pretentious, self-absorbed, and dull.......2007-08-13
I have infinite patience when I am personally pretentious, self-absorbed, and dull. I don't have the same patience when I read books that are that way, though.
The story is about a futuristic world where knowledge, thought, and argument have been banished in favor of momentary happiness, thrill, and pleasure. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman. In the future, instead of fighting fires, they are in charge of lighting them. They are the front line defense for society against the societal decay caused by books, so their job is to go around burning down the houses of those who own and read books. Montag, at some point, realizes the importance of books and instantly becomes an enemy of the state, a target of the same department that he worked for.
One problem with this book is in the fact that Bradbury can't create a realistic world in which these events could become a reality. Granted, he was writing 50 years ago, so he wouldn't have had knowledge of the type of entertainment which exists today, but all he seems able to conjure up is the concept of immediate, personalized entertainment as if that is the only type of entertainment that would remain. He creates a world (or just a city, because this type of environment only seems to exist in the city) where people are zombies sitting in their homes surrounded by television screens that are running all the time telling the people what they should think and feel. Conceptually he wasn't wrong, it's just his clumsy handling of the telling. He can't create a solid series of steps that lead from the present day to that future (though he tries). He can't recreate the sort of television show that these people would watch, and he can't explain clearly why anyone would want to watch it.
Beyond the setting, the characters themselves are one-dimensional. They are all archetypes, and none have the spark of life which would make them interesting. Clarisse, the dangerous intellectual adolescent; Montag, the newborn Man whose eyes have recently been open; Faber, the reluctant wise man; Beatty, the hardened symbol of the State, who is a very capable parry to the thrusts of Faber; none of the characters have any depth whatsoever.
The writing itself was a pain to read. Bradbury can't seem to figure out which word he needs to use, so he opens a thesaurus and dumps as many words as he can onto the page. In addition, he wanders off on tangents without bringing those tangents back to the main storyline. Furthermore, his dire need to make his point (a panoply of ideas is good, not bad) by either having the characters themselves soliloquize it, or by doing it himself in wandering, dull monologues. This is the sort of self-absorption I allude to in the title to this review.
To drive home the fact that Bradbury thinks he's God's gift to knowledge, the afterword and coda and interview with the author leave nothing to the imagination. According to Bradbury himself, he's got tons of ideas of how to make the story better. None of those ideas have to do with improving the writing, just making each character's monologue longer. He claims to refrain from adding those updates to this edition of the book (50th anniversary edition) because he feels the original text, as the author wrote it, is pristine and perfect. His contempt for editors is plainly spelled out at various places in the tacked-on content.
I really can't recommend this book to anyone who has already graduated from high school. The story is poor. The writing is poor. The author's point is all it's got of value, and even that is nothing special. It may be helpful to know the character of Guy Montag in case it ever comes up in conversation, but other than that, I can't think of any reason to spend time with this book. 2 stars
Book Description
One hundred political cartoons you wanted to see, but weren't allowed to: all were banned for being too hot to handle.
Think you live in a society with a free press? These celebrated cartoonists and illustrators found out otherwise. Whether blasting Bush for his "Bring 'em on!" speech, spanking pedophile priests, questioning capital punishment, debating the disputed 2000 election, or just mocking baseball mascots, they learned that newspapers and magazines increasingly play it safe by suppressing satire.
With censored cartoons, many unpublished, by the likes of Garry Trudeau, Doug Marlette, Paul Conrad, Mike Luckovich, Matt Davies, and Ted Rall (all Pulitzer Prize winners or finalists), as well as unearthed editorial illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Edward Sorel, Anita Kunz, Marshall Arisman, and Steve Brodner, you will find yourself surprised and often shocked by the images themselves—and outraged by the fact that a fearful editor kept you from seeing them. Needed now more than ever because of a neutered press that's more lapdog than watchdog, Killed Cartoons will make you laugh, make you angry, and make you think. 100 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Antidote to editorial timidity .......2007-05-30
If you're disheartened by pusillanimous publishers who lack the sand to back up their writers and cartoonists when they come up with controversial material, David Wallis is your man. In his previous work, "Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot To Print," he championed journalists whose articles were decommissioned by their fearful overseers; now in KILLED CARTOONS he's back with a book that does the same for editorial cartoonists. Clever, thoughtful, and brave.
Kartoons that did not see print.......2007-05-13
What a shame these weren't printed. All were to the point, and pertinant.
Wrong choice.......2007-05-13
The Book was good enough it just wasnt quit what I was looking foward to
Funny, but you don't want to laugh.......2007-04-28
I enjoyed KILLED CARTOONS immensely. The work illustrates beautifully why political cartoons are important. (And why they're capable of generating real controversy.) What Wallis understands is that cartoons have a contradictory function. One the one hand they have to amuse the reader, and on the other, they have to upset his/her equilibrium--ideally to the boiling point. Cartoons reach us on a visceral level, which is why I found Wallis' commentary (captions, if you will) a perfect complement to them. Wallis is a witty intelligent and apparently well-informed writer. This book came to me as a gift, I just bought his KILLED: Journalism To Hot to Print, with my own money.
Understand what you're getting.......2007-04-21
For the right audience, I'm sure this is a fine work. I was not the right audience. I wanted a book that presented the cartoons, with perhaps minimal commentary, and let me decide for myself. Instead, this provides pages of commentary and, actually, very few cartoons (94 in its 282 pages - I counted). If you're looking for a treatise on the myth of freedom of the press, using a few cartoons as case studies, then by all means look at this book. Just know what it is you are buying, and know that less than a third of the pages in the book actually show the "Killed Cartoons" that the title promises.
Book Description
A dozen carefully researched books have exposed the official story of 9/11 to be a terror fraud. Yet the mainstream media have monolithically failed to ask elementary questions about anomalies in this story. So-called alternative media have been little better.
Towers of Deception explains why and prescribes actions to break out the truth.
Â
Authored by a lifelong journalist who was for thirty-five years a media critic,
Towers of Deception provides twenty-six "exhibits" of evidence proving "beyond a reasonable doubt" that 9/11 was an inside job. It then presents case histories of de facto censorship by mainstream media and examines the psychological phenomenon of denial. "False flag" operations and psychological warfare are dealt with in detail, as is the "invisible government"-the powers pulling strings behind the scenes. Following a profile of Dr. David Ray Griffin as an authentic prophet of the 9/11 truth movement,
Towers of Deception urges people to speak truth to power and challenge all media.
Â
Interspersed with photographs, diary entries, and inspiring profiles of those who see 9/11 truth as the Achilles' heel of the neocon agenda,
Towers of Deception includes a professional-quality DVD produced by the author:
The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw.
Customer Reviews:
Nonesense.......2007-09-19
After reading this book, I just wanted to laugh and the leaps people can make and others will believe.
The Ideology of Conspiracy.......2007-08-09
Almost everybody has seen the headlines in the check-out lines and had a chuckle. We all know there are those who take this stuff seriously. The same can be said of the 911 "conspiracy". Some folks pay absolutely no attention to the various and many investigations that have disproved 99% of all the bogus claims but go orgasmic over the latest Youtube video by Joe Blow claiming he has the ultimate 911 truth. If you don't believe my conspiracy theory you are part of the plot - the perfect defense mechanism. I try to point out that despite universal claims of inside knowledge and the real "truth", the stories contradict each other in almost every detail. For example, the hijackers cannot be (1) alive & well, (2) non-existent, (3) murdered, (4) Mossad agents, (5) al Qaeda agents or (6) under remote mind control by the CIA.
Barrie Zwicker is described as a Canadian alternative writer and a left wing political activist (Wiki). Those phrases should set off warning bells as to his bias before we start. That is not to say that political leanings are always a factor - the liberal Skeptic Magazine came up with the same conclusions as the conseravite Popular Mechanics and the neutral Engineers of America and, for that matter, the 911 commission. Physical evidence is no longer used in the conspiracy since they were quite easy to disprove. A political conspiracy is easier to trot since it is entirely subjective, based on a hodge podge of overheard snatches of conversation, internet chatter and bizarre tales that almost always have a simple explanation, i.e. "pull" down WTC7 meant "pull" the men from the bldg but of course it was taken out of context and transformed into one of the most-quoted pieces of "evidence" around. Zweiker plays it safe - making several proposals that if proved would leave no doubt that indeed it was a conspiracy.
The fallacy of that approach is the same as its construction - its utter subjectivity. If I prove 10 but disprove 5 is it conspiracy? If I can't prove any but disprove one, does it fall apart? He carefully does not make the error of others and try for exactness. He asserts that the media were part of the "plot" by repeating erroneous stories, relying on unknown sources and in general, supporting the series of events proved by investigations. Someone has calculated the thousands it would take to pull off something of this magnitude and yet not a single soul has come forward with a confession...strange in this day of the confessional.
People are now noticing how other conspiracies are intertwining and becoming part of the mythology. These "odd? ideas are standard fare for the conspiracy addict but not the general public - Jewish bankers (Anti-Semites are drawn to such crap), New World Order, Knights Templar, the Illuminati, Big Oil, CIA remote mind control, the Vatican, aliens... Some sites now headline the catchy phrase - "No Planes, No Holocaust" - further damaging the dwindling credibility of the "movement". The success of this movement speaks volumes about our inability to think critically about problems. How much easier it is to imagine dark cabals of whispers and payoffs than the horrific truth. It is an exercise in nonsense, irrationality, political ideology and wish fulfillment for big kids. The results, however, are as tragic as any conspiracy buff could imagine. The "Patriot Act", "Homeland Security", the war in Iraq, the loss of liberties agreed to by both parties, the never ending war and surveillance...those are outcomes of 9-11 and do not even require a dark, secret plot as an explanation.
Why Aren't People Accepting That 9/11 Was An Inside Job.......2007-07-24
I can't say enough good things about Barrie Zwicker's book. It is filled with wisdom pieces throughout. Barrie takes on the challenge of why people aren't accepting that 9/11 was an inside job and even devotes a whole chapter to a former hero of his, Noam Chomsky, selling out. I might also add Amy Goodman's name to that list. I couldn't put the book down. After reading 150 pages in my first sitting, I was compelled to write to Barrie letting him know how much I appreciated his book. Upon further reading I was not disappointed. That is an understatement for this very important book.
BEST APPROACH POSSIBLE TO CLEAR THE SMOKE OF LIES ABOUT 9/11.......2007-07-07
I have seen many of different movies and read many other books on the subject, and Zwicker's approach is the best I have seen, in my opinion. Go out and get this book NOW, and I guarantee you will be impressed!!!
Do you have an alibi for September 11?.......2007-05-15
In his book "Towers of Deception: the Media Cover-Up of 9/11", Barrie Zwicker complains that the term "conspiracy theory" is used pejoratively to dismiss or denigrate unwelcome arguments. But charity clearly begins at home, because Zwicker has never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like. To begin with, he believes that the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11 was an "inside job", or "false-flag operation", carried out by rogue elements within the US government. But that is just the tip of the iceberg, for he also believes that the Madrid train bombings (2004), the Beslan school massacre (2004), and the London subway bombings (2005) were all "false-flag ops".
The extent of Zwicker's paranoia can be gauged by his explanation of why so many important people on the Left reject the idea that 9/11 was an inside job (p. 220): "That the agenda of Chomsky, Barsamian et al would be so widespread and pursued with such intensity begs explanation. One theory would be incompetence ... Another theory would be that some, perhaps a surprisingly large percentage, of these individuals are following instructions that benefit the national security state; that they are, in other words, agents. The nature and consistency of the anomalies they present prohibit this theory from being rejected out of hand ... This is, indeed, a not unreasonably founded conspiracy theory." In fact, most people would be hard pressed to concoct a more far-fetched theory without recourse to UFOs. There is a much simpler explanation: Chomsky et al are correct.
As for the evidence showing that 9/11 was an inside job, Zwicker rounds up the usual suspects and throws in a few of his own. He is, of course, big on the collapse of WTC7. In the case of the Twin Towers, the collapses were photographed in such detail that the correctness of the "official" explanation is hardly in doubt (e.g., in both towers, structural collapse began at the entry point of the aircraft). In the case of WTC7, there are no photographs that show clearly the extent of the damage or the collapse itself; hence the scope for wild theorizing is much greater. Zwicker never explains why, if "rogue operatives" decided to destroy the Twin Towers, they felt it was necessary to destroy WTC7 as well. He also never gets to the real question, which is why anyone would devise a plan that required planes to crash into the Twin Towers followed by the use of hidden explosives to bring them down. ("Don't let `em see the explosions! That's the key to our plan!") That's not a plan; it's a Rube Goldberg machine. Only someone who has never had to carry out a big project in the real world could find this plausible.
The weird thing is that Zwicker cites material on how people make up facts to maintain a given worldview, misinterpret facts, etc. So how could he have got it so wrong, and bought into such nonsense? The answer is contained in several innocuous sentences in the book. Zwicker writes that, while seeing the events unfolding on TV on 9/11, he very quickly concluded that the destruction of the towers was the equivalent of the Reichstag fire (p. 6). He quotes Webster Tarpley, who has clearly influenced his thinking, as saying (p. 187) "I concluded more or less instantaneously that the 9/11 events were a provocation by this rogue network ..." In other words, Zwicker and friends instantly made up their minds and have maintained the same opinion ever since. But because these conclusions were reached before there was any evidence to go on, they are the result of mental predispositions and biases.
I gave the book two stars mainly because Zwicker's treatment of Noam Chomsky, with its continual oscillation between fawning adulation and vituperative disgust, is worth a read.
Book Description
"Buy it, read it, act on it. Our future depends on the knowledge this collection of suppressed stories allows us."-
San Diego Review
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"Devastating evidence of the dumbing down of mainstream news in America. . . . Required reading for broadcasters, journalists, and well-informed citizens."-
Los Angeles Times
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"A terrific resource."-
Library Journal
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"For the smart and courageous news manager, this annual report is a virtual road map for the coming year's news schedule. Many of these stories should, in an ideal news world, prompt deep and lengthy investigative efforts."-
The Village Voice
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"A distant early warning system for society's problems."-
American Journalism Review
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The best-selling
Censored series highlights the year's twenty-five most important underreported news stories, alerting readers to deficiencies in corporate media and the resurgence of alternative media. Among the top censored stories of the year,
Censored 2007 highlights the environmental and economic repercussions of Hurricane Katrina, the newest findings on global warming, escalating trends in human trafficking, and the use of napalm in Iraq.
Customer Reviews:
Kinda' paranoid.......2007-07-16
I love reading these types of books because it takes me back to my college days when everything was a dark conspiracy by The Man to keep the common people down.
The authors try to get your ire up by casually throwing around the word 'Censored', even though many of these stories have received relentless coverage in the major media, blogs and academic journals for a number of years. Ask yourself, "Have I really been lacking for stories about the various dealings of Halliburton?"
Here are some others:
* Destruction of Rainforest
* Homelessness rising in America
* Detainees Tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan
* Dangers of Genetically Modified Food
Be honest, have you not been inundated with coverage of these issues?
If the authors of this book had done a quick Nexis-Lexis search, or even a simple Google search, they would have uncovered endless streams of coverage and debate on this and many other topics.
Instead, they focus their efforts on the mainstream media....a dying industry where fewer get their information. Perhaps Project Censored ought to drag itself into the 21st Century before hysterically claiming that Big Brother is trying to keep you ignorant.
Last Resort for Those Who Want Real News.......2007-03-05
With each and every corporate media mega-merger, the news industry becomes less competitive and, as a result, less informative. These days, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get real news. Luckily, for those who want to keep informed, there is Project Censored (PC), a non-profit news organization developed by Peter Phillips, Professor of Sociology at Sonoma University. This year's CENSORED 2007 is PC's 30th anniversary edition and, along with the top 25 censored stories of the year and the usual array of supplementary essays on media bias, this year's edition includes updates on the most important stories of the last 30 years - a nifty bonus. 2007 stories include:
1. The Future of the Internet: giant cable companies seek a monopoly on cable Internet
2. Halliburton charged with selling nuclear secrets to Iran - illegally - under Cheney
3. The worldwide death of oceans: warming, toxic buildup, dead zones, changing PH balance, fish, grass and kelp die offs
4. Hunger and homelessness in the US on the rise: Government solution? Discontinue Census surveys that keep statistical tables on poverty
5. US supports genocide in the Congo to gain access to resources used to make high-tech gadgetry such as cell phones
6. The end of federal whistleblower protections
7. US operatives torture detainees to death in Afghanistan and Iraq
8. Pentagon exempts itself from the Freedom of Information Act
9. World Bank funds the Palestine-Israel Wall
10. The death toll of civilians in Iraq from the expanded air war
11. Dangers of genetically modified foods confirmed
12. The dangers of common pesticides like Roundup
13. Homeland Security contracts KBR (a Halliburton subsidiary) to build detention centers in the US
14. The EPA's primary research partner is the chemical industry
15. Ecuador and Mexico defy the US on the international criminal court
16. The Iraq reconstruction promotes OPEC agenda: profit for major US oil companies
17. Physicist concludes that official 9/11 explanation is scientifically implausible
18. Destruction of rainforests is at an all-time high
19. Bottled water: a global environmental problem
20. Gold mining threatens ancient Andean glaciers
21. Billions in homeland security undisclosed
22. US Oil targets Kyoto in Europe
23. Cheney's Halliburton stock rose of 3000 percent last year
24. Pentagon plans to build new landmines
25. US military in Paraguay threatens the region
But don't just stop at the headlines. The stories are packed with details, sources, links, and at the end of the book there is a wonderful appendix of alternative media venues. Perhaps the most important publication in journalism, CENSORED should not be overlooked.
Mandatory annual reading.
j.w.k
Best nonfiction I've read in years.......2007-02-23
There is so much important information in here. Any responsible and engaged member of society should at least give it a quick run-through.
A Must Read for Everyone .......2007-02-06
This book is a must read for anyone who cares about news or what is happening in the world today. The book covers a number of different stories that have been left out of the corporate media coverage, as they usually will shame either sponsers or politically powerful people. Coverage includes global warming, the Iraq war, the White house and President Bush, Congress and a host of other characters.
This book is very well written with stories that give the information needed, but contained to keep them readable. Each story has a link to web site to obtain more information if the reader desires.
If Bill O'Rielly wants to be "fair and balanced" and end the "spin" he should cover these stories. But, he won't, and either will any other corporate owned media outlet! Read the book...it will put corporate media into a whole new light.
A must have book!!!.......2007-01-19
Everyone in the country must read this book. I look forward to them making it into a movie so even more people become aware of the information contained within every page of this book. Kudos to the class and every one else involved at Sonoma State University that produce the top 25 censored stories every year!
Thank You Professor Phillips and Professor Jensen! Your work is so very important in keeping the public informed about the events that are not covered by mainstream media but are vital to all of us who live in this country, and all of the people around the globe.
Customer Reviews:
Educated Ignorance.......2006-09-26
Such a terrible mis-directed perversion of Mind. Well educated Ignorance. A true weaver of Stalinist theory. What a malignant waste of thought.
Necessary Reading.......2006-05-20
This Chomsky book, while tough to get through at points (have a dictionary on hand), is an absolute must if you are interested in learning how to "read" the mainstream news.
Facts are given and cited. And Chomsky, as always, asks readers to draw their own conclusions. I drew mine. This was the first book of his I read, but it wasn't the last.
The Obligation of Silence, Containing The Enemy, & Awaiting The Hidden Hand.......2006-01-08
"They who have put out the people's eyes, reproach them of their blindness." ~ John Milton
This was released in 89', the end of the Reagan/Bush era, and offers an insightful outline of then-versus-now contrast. Many similar behind the scene names and fear-based strategies. The specifics have changed, yet the song unfortunately remains the same. Chomsky demonstrates our democracy's historical need of "containment of the enemy" [a populace in which free voices have the capacity to resound] through imposed and vested interests, and through a pervasive media propaganda model, which, as adjuncts of government, manipulate a collective turning of an onus blind eye from the crimes, atrocities, familar ideologies, preferences and prefabricated belief structures of the favored state.
As usual, the unyielding Chomsky wields an elementary punch of fact-packed, deep-impressioned, miles-back swing. It's quite astonishing to read such blatantly anti-democratic {compared to the widely adhered to definitions and perceptions of democracy} quotations from prominent historical political figures who formulate policies designed to advance and serve oligarchic interests through deceiving the people, and diminishing their capacity for involvement and of having a direct hand in the shaping of public policy.
"Necessary Illusions" is an essential read in the canon of what Chomsky refers to as necessary "intellectual self-defense courses" to counter Power's perilous necessary illusions which menace our representative form of government, human rights here and abroad, and, realistically, the fate of our species and the planet.
I love it. If Only I Could Read It!.......2002-12-04
I am influenced by Chomsky more than any other political philosopher (although he seems to encompass much more than a mere career categorization). I've studied him on and off for the past five years, and I find it harder and harder to rely on mass media (TV, radio, movies, increasingly more of the internet) for any information. It's like lost innocence. One can never look at these things the same after reading Chomsky.
In this book, he tackles these themes, but concentrates a great deal on U.S. international relations. The equation is basically this: corporations control the government and own the media. U.S. international relations are directly affected and influenced by the whims of multinationals; namely the desire for [inexpensive] production and [inexpensive] resources, exploiting civilians and foreign lands to achieve these means. The government is in the pocket of the corporations.
The ordinary American has little say. We may vote; but we vote for one party; solely representing the interests of the rich, and the huge corporations.
That's a bit of Chomsky in a nutshell. This book supports these arguments with EXHAUSTIVE research. I admit, I found it exhausting to read, but not from lack of interest. He is detailed; which makes his arguments valid. He uses countless examples, all supported by the contradictory historical actions and propaganda of U.S. foreign relations; where the government lies to the public via the media. There are so many quotes and supportive examples that the bibliography could be 40 pages long!
So, I love Chomsky. However I really don't like reading him; but I try. I find the easiest way to get the big picture of Chomsky's views is by watching the documentary, Manufacturing Consent, reading Z Magazine, and also "The Real Story" series of transcribed interviews with Chomsky.
Perhaps I'm just a lazy reader. However I think this book legitimizes many of Chomsky's views, in a dense, detailed, way. But without these supporting examples and quotes, his views couldn't be seen as valid.
Eyeopener for newcomers, disappointment for Chomskyites.......2000-07-25
On the whole, this book is disappointing and greatly inferior to Chomsky's similarly theme-ed Manufacturing Consent. Necessary Illusions amounts to little more than an updating of media duplicity in mainstream coverage of Central America and Israel. From the title, I expected a more systematic analysis of methods, mechanics, and reasons that operate behind media coverage. Instead, Chomsky offers a loose model of journalistic propaganda and a few methods for detecting its presence, viz. the Comparison Method. However, the model is neither detailed nor a really very useful one. Thus at a time when tv's propaganda function, for one, is becoming clearer to the public, Necessary Illusions fails to deliver much beyond the usual case studies familiar to Chomskyites. Important as this empirical work may be, especially for newcomers to Chomsky, what is needed is a more thorough-going model of how raw news gets processed into self-serving policy reinforcement. In short, a better model of the communication industry's ideological function.
It's surprising that someone as skilled at theorizing as Chomsky appears to shy away from this next logical step to his many invaluable case studies. Americans by and large recognise that despite being "free", the popular media is not to be trusted. Now we need be persuaded why this is so. Perhaps Chomsky doesn't want to risk credibility by pursuing more abstract formulations where researchable fact is less immediate. Whatever the reason, in this book he has clearly debunked some of America's most prestigious and self-serving institutions, which is always a worthwhile read.
Book Description
Censored by the U.S. Army, Dorothea Lange's unseen photographs are the extraordinary photographic record of the Japanese American internment saga.
This indelible work of visual and social history confirms Dorothea Lange's stature as one of the twentieth century's greatest American photographers. Presenting 119 images originally censored by the U.S. Army—the majority of which have never been published—Impounded evokes the horror of a community uprooted in the early 1940s and the stark reality of the internment camps. With poignancy and sage insight, nationally known historians Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro illuminate the saga of Japanese American internment: from life before Executive Order 9066 to the abrupt roundups and the marginal existence in the bleak, sandswept camps. In the tradition of Roman Vishniac's A Vanished World, Impounded, with the immediacy of its photographs, tells the story of the thousands of lives unalterably shattered by racial hatred brought on by the passions of war. 104 photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Great photography and history.......2007-01-12
Outstanding description and photographs documenting the terrible injustice done to American citizens and residents solely because of their Japanese ancestry throughout the Second World War. The indecencies suffered by these people can barely be described adequately, but this book attempts to further illustrate the horrors that can be inflicted on an ethnic group if racism is allowed to influence government policy, as it did in this country during that war.
Text, yes. Photographs, no.......2007-01-10
These important photographs taking during WW2 in the Japanese internment camps scattered around the American west are almost unreadble. The are reproduced very small, and without the requisite skill to make deteriorated images look half decent on the printed page.
The text is informative, especially about Dorothea Lange's trials in gaining access to the camps in California.
Impounded: Important Photography of the Internment and American History.......2007-01-08
Dorothea Lange's photographs document an important American event that is still unknown to a large number of Americans. The fact that the government impounded the photographs speaks for itself.
Heartbreaking images of a shameful past........2006-11-06
Although the text is informative in telling the history of Japanese internment during World War II, the images speak for themselves, page after page in stark black and white, the young and innocent, the old and careworn, carrying rope-bound suitcases and cardboard boxes, standing in long lines, waiting to be processed by indifferent jailors, an entire race herded into the camps that will be home for the war years, disenfranchising them of investment in community and the pride of being Americans. As history has proven over and over, fear is a monster that cannot be contained once the public is infected, the vulnerable a source of suspicion, marked by the color of their skin and the shape of their eyes.
Whole families gather in these telling photographs, leaving treasured belongings behind, grandparents to infants, all swept up in an infamous display of mistrust in a country suddenly driven to panic by a surprise attack, demanding a quick response from their government. Lange has a particular talent for capturing the very human face of the internment camps, children with ID tags attached to their coats, chain link fences topped with barbed wire circling the arid landscape, family laundry hanging from a window, the barren rows of housing units assailed by constant dust storms, women working on camouflage nets for the War Department.
Famous for her Depression era photos of migrant farm workers, this series of photographs, while ordered by the US Government, were censored for the duration of the war. The most striking feature of the collection is the very American look of these people, standing proud while saluting the flag, teenagers trying to act cool in spite of their surroundings, family gatherings that are familiar Americana. It is also important to mention that, in spite of the extreme measures undertaken, "no Japanese-American was ever found guilty of espionage". Lange's work is enhanced by the two essays that precede the collection of photographs, Linda Gordon's biographical essay on Lange's life and work and Gary Okihiro's "An American Story", outlining Japanese immigration to America and the history of Japanese internment, with personal anecdotes by detainees. This is a moving portrait of a country's response to threat, reminding us to value the precious tenets of freedom. Luan Gaines/2006.
Book Description
The bestselling author of Stranger at the Gate provides an inside exposé of the Christian Right's agenda-and a playbook in how to resist it.
This Fall's midterm elections will see much discussion about the enhanced power of the Christian fundamentalist Right, leaving many people to wonder: just who are these people and what exactly do they want? What are their ultimate goals? The Reverend Mel White, a deeply religious man who sees fundamentalism as "evangelical Christian orthodoxy gone cultic," believes that it is not a stretch to say that the true goal of today's fundamentalists is to break down the wall that separates church and state, superimpose their "moral values" on the U.S. Constitution, replace democracy with theocratic rule, and ultimately create a new "Christian America" in their image. White's new book, Religion Gone Bad, is a wake-up call to all of us to take heed.
White is singularly qualified to write this exposé of the Christian Right because he himself was a true believer who served the evangelical movement as pastor, professor, filmmaker, television producer, author, and ghostwriter for such fundamentalist leaders as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Billy Graham, all of whom he got to know well. As he writes, "These are not just Neocons dressed in religious drag. These men see themselves as gurus called by God to rescue America from unrighteousness. They believe this is a Christian nation that must be returned forcibly to its Christian roots."
He is also a gay man, who made news when he came out more than twelve years ago. White has gained a unique understanding of the fundamentalist agenda because, since the fall of "godless Communism," homosexuality and abortion have become the primary targets through which fundamentalists have created fear, raised money, and mobilized recruits. Religion Gone Bad documents the thirty-year war that fundamentalist Christians have waged against homosexuality and gays and lesbians and offers dramatic, heartbreaking evidence that fundamentalist leaders-Protestant and Catholic alike-are waging nothing less than a "holy war" (jihad) against sexual minorities. By focusing on the current plight of gay people in this country, White addresses the wider issue that fundamentalist Christianity-like fundamentalist Islam-has become a threat not just to gays, but to all Americans who disagree with fundamentalist Christian "values."
Customer Reviews:
Scary info.......2007-09-30
Trying to learn some of the aspects of how the so-called "other" people think, I've read a number of books among this same genre. Things that would seem on the fringes for most of us. I've read The Turner Diaries and personally saw it as a novel, yet at the same time I could see how extremists might take it otherwise.
Religion Gone Bad however, was scarier than The Turner Diaries could ever be. While I've always disagreed with some of the basic concepts of fundamentalism, this was scarier than I could have thought. The power this group is gaining and really gaining pretty quietly, should make us all stop and think about where we want this country to go and how we can easily stop it from swirling out of control if we're more diligent about how we vote politically.
As Mel White says, he focuses on the homosexual aspects since it touches him personally, however he does make clear that anyone not of fundamentalist thinking is at risk. While I am not gay I have many gay friends and certainly disagree, as I said, with many fundamentalist areas of thinking. I was raised to believe in a forgiving God and it certainly doesn't seem the fundamentalists do. One of my pet peeves are the bumper stickers that read "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven". My God forgives everyone if you ask him to.
Very scary stuff.
Good book overall but...........2007-09-07
This book is a very telling tale of the so called Christian Right and its plans to control America and even the world. It is written from the perspective of one who has been among the leaders of the movement and once supported them whether he wanted to or not. The only problem I had with the book is that it dwells on the anti-homosexual agenda of the Christian right. Since it is written by a homosexual that might be understandable but I'm afraid that many readers might be lost about a third or half way through the book. The problems that homosexuals face in this country are tremendous but I'm afraid that Mr. White overdoes it. I'm a heterosexual but I sympathize with their plight but banging people over the head with that one subject tends to make one numb to the problem instead of more sensitive.
Know Thine Enemy.......2007-08-24
This book should be required reading not just for every gay,lesbian,bi or transgendered individual, but for anyone who believes in equality, faith, and the basic principles of the Constitution our forefathers wrote.
At times while reading this, I had to put the book down because I was literally seething with anger. For anyone that doesn't believe that fundamentalist Christians like James Dobson, and Ralph Reed aren't dangerous to the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness to millions of fellow Americans, this is a wake up call.
When religion and politics mix.......2007-08-13
This book is a detailed account of how the big names in Evangelical Christianity are also waist deep in the political process and how they use fear and misinformation to line their pockets. It is a picture of the problem on grand scale rather than personal.
It's worth reading by everyone, the problem is the people who are funadamentalist anything, rarely think for themselves. Still, lots of good information in this book.
Gandhi and MLK would be proud.......2007-08-04
I read this book for the same reason many others (I'm assuming) did. The premise is absolutely fascinating, that a former close associate of the likes of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson admitted and embraced his homosexuality, and decided to fire back at his oppressors.
As I've said in my other reviews, we often think that we "know" something, but we don't internalize or incorporate that knowledge until we're forced to. That is how I feel with respect to the active war against homosexuality from the Christian Right. I really had no idea the extent that fundamentalist Christian leaders have purposefully and intently attacked homosexuals and supporters thereof.
As Mel White repeatedly points out, there are so many worthy causes that these Christian leaders could be concerned with, such as poverty, health care, violence against women, child abuse (!!!), hegemonic politics, genocide, etc. Instead, they obsess (and I choose that word deliberately) with homosexuals and insist that homosexuality must be terminated to prevent the wrath of G-d from destroying us. Whatever happened to "As you do unto the least of my children, you do unto me"?
Mel White takes the stance that Gandhi- and MLK-esque relentless nonviolent resistance is the best way to overcome the hate and oppression of the Christian Right (and those in the government who are influenced by them). White mentions that we need a leader behind whom we can rally. Pardon me for saying so, Mr. White, but I think you just volunteered.
It is often said that there is a struggle between the benefits of religion and the potential harm it causes. Some of us have accepted that the harm far outweighs the benefits. However, Mel White makes a valiant effort to reduce the harm of Christianity and make it more welcoming to people of all walks of life. Regardless on your stance on faith vs. atheism, this book is of great value.
P.S. One thing I learned from this book is that Billy Graham does not belong in the same category as nuts like Falwell and Robertson. Graham was known for his moderate and loving nature, and was often restricted by his advisors in what he could say and do.
Amazon.com
Who says the world of classic Hollywood moviemaking was never risqué? We tend to think of black-and-white movies as representing a sanitized world, where crime never paid, ladies of the evening had hearts of gold, and married couples slept in separate beds. But in fact, censorship in American cinema didn't begin in earnest until 1934, when Will Hays and Joseph Breen began enforcing the legendary Hollywood production code. In this revelatory book, Thomas Doherty looks at sound movies of 1930-34--what is now known as the "pre-code" era.
This was a Hollywood of loose dames, hot whoopee, and coked-up killers who'd do anything for a pot of jack. It was a world that was often amoral and anarchic--an industry that allowed James Cagney and Paul Muni wild orgies of violence, openly flaunted the sexuality of Marlene Dietrich and Mae West, gave King Kong permission to crush cars and eat people, and allowed Tod Browning to make Freaks, one of the ghastliest, most sensationalistic, and greatest American movies.
Doherty's book captures this mad universe beautifully, describing films in such delightful detail that you may find yourself tossing it on your couch and racing to the video store. He also documents the downfall of the period, the outrage that was leveled against early sound films, and the emerging code that repressed American movies for almost 30 years. Film fans reveling in the debauchery of Hollywood's naughtiest era will also want to see Mark A. Vieira's Sin in Soft Focus. --Raphael Shargel
Book Description
Pre-Code Hollywood explores the fascinating period in American motion picture history from 1930 to 1934 when the commandments of the Production Code Administration were violated with impunity in a series of wildly unconventional films -- a time when censorship was lax and Hollywood made the most of it. Though more unbridled, salacious, subversive, and just plain bizarre than what came afterwards, the films of the period do indeed have the look of Hollywood cinema -- but the moral terrain is so off-kilter that they seem imported from a parallel universe.
In a sense, Doherty avers, the films of pre-Code Hollywood are from another universe. They lay bare what Hollywood under the Production Code attempted to cover up and push offscreen: sexual liaisons unsanctified by the laws of God or man, marriage ridiculed and redefined, ethnic lines crossed and racial barriers ignored, economic injustice exposed and political corruption assumed, vice unpunished and virtue unrewarded -- in sum, pretty much the raw stuff of American culture, unvarnished and unveiled.
No other book has yet sought to interpret the films and film-related meanings of the pre-Code era -- what defined the period, why it ended, and what its relationship was to the country as a whole during the darkest years of the Great Depression... and afterward.
Customer Reviews:
OK, but there's better out there.......2002-07-01
I love this era, and I love reading about this era, but even so, I gave up reading this book about halfway through. There are better books about pre-Code, at least two or three. Geoffrey Blake has a great book about how the Code came to be, and Mick LaSalle and Mark Vierra also have excellent books about the artistry and the gossip and the history. This one is OK, but I'd recommend it only to people like me who just can't get enough. And even then, I found out, I can.
Better Ones Out There.......2001-08-01
This is a very respectable but uninspired treatment of the pre-Code era. Its virtues come mainly in the beginning, with an interesting introduction. Its weakness stems from the fact that the author seems more fascinated by the politics of the era than with the movies -- and that he fails to connect the politics with the movies in a way that ultimately illuminates THE FILMS, on an artistic level. I don't think he has a feel for the ART of the era at all, and as a result the best chapters are about Franklin Roosevelt and the newsreels of the day. A decent treatment, but better books are out there.
Exciting subject matter, dull reading.......2001-06-10
This is a good book, but it doesn't capture the excitement of its subject matter. All kinds of wild & crazy things were happening in pre-code (1930-1934) Hollywood movies (extramarital affairs, prostitution, robbery, violence, etc.), & they happened for the most part without moral judgment on the parts of the movie makers. But this book presents this exciting period in a rather dry, humorless way. It contains lots of useful information about the era & its surrounding politics, but also leaves out a lot of things that should be mentioned. On the plus side, it contains a complete version of the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (which is referred to in so many books, but hard to find a copy of). The photos are great, but small in size & printed on the same porous paper used for the text (which results in less sharpness than if printed on glossy paper). The biggest negative, in my opinion, is that a number of important pre-code movies are not even mentioned in this book (for example, Norma Shearer's "The Divorcee"). And why the author spends 4+ pages analyzing "Congorilla" (a 1932 African documentary that was made during the pre-code era but has little to do with Production Code censorship) is beyond me; it's a good analysis but perhaps belongs in a different book!
GREAT SUBJECT, PASSIONLESS TREATMENT.......2001-04-13
While there may be no more fascinating subject in film history, this book just does not capture its magic. Most of the book consists of plot summaries, and the social analysis contains a lot of specious correlations between film content and the transition between the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. The author doesn't really seem to like pre-Code films all that much--rather he seems to find them sociologically interesting. This is hardly a bad book. A lot of research clearly went into it. But this is not the book to make non-aficionados interested -- or lovers of pre-Code enlightened.
Censorship and Politics (And Who Can Tell the Difference).......2001-02-19
Thomas Doherty's Pre-Code Hollywood (Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930 - 1934) is a wonderful study of Hollywood and the movies it produced before the Production Code gained its censorious teeth and bloodied them on celluloid. The most significant and interesting aspects of the book were the politics involved, both in the production of the movies and the movies themselves. Movies looked at vice, poverty, and politics, for example, with eyes wide open and this frightened many people in power who led a successful campaign against the industry. This book tells that tale very effectively. It is a joy to read.
Book Description
The war in Iraq may be remembered as the point at which the propaganda model perfected in the twentieth century stopped working: the world is too complex, information is too plentiful, and-as events in Iraq reveal- propaganda makes bad policy.
The Best War Ever is about a war that was devised in fantasy and lost in delusion. It highlights the futility of lying to oneself and others in matters of life and death. And it offers lessons to the current generation so that, at least in our time, this never happens again.
As the team of Rampton and Stauber show in their first new book since President Bush's reelection, the White House seems to have fooled no one as much as itself in the march toward a needless (from a security perspective) war in Iraq. As the authors argue, one of the most tragic consequences of the Bush administration's reliance on propaganda is its disdain for realistic planning in matters of war. Repeatedly, when faced with predictions of problems, U.S. policymakers dismissed the warnings of Iraq experts, choosing instead to promulgate its version of the war through conservative media outlets and PR campaigns. The result has been too few troops on the ground to maintain security; failure to anticipate the insurgency; and oblivious disregard, even contempt, for critics in either party who attempted to assess the human and economic costs of the war.
Even now that withdrawal seems imminent, however, the administration and its allies continue their cover-ups: downplaying civilian deaths and military injuries; employing marketing buzzwords like "victory" repeatedly to shore up public opinion; and botched attempts, through third-party PR firms, at creating phony news.
The Bush administration entered Iraq believing that its moral, technological, and military superiority would ensure victory abroad, and that its mastery of the politics would win support at home. Instead, it found a morass of problems that do not lend themselves to moralistic, technological, or propaganda-based solutions.
Customer Reviews:
For Ahmed Chalabi, maybe. For Halliburton, for sure........2007-04-26
Rampton and Stauber are the authors of "Weapons of Mass Deception," which won my personal award for best book title of the decade (so far). Here the irony is a bit over the top. So are these alternative titles I've thought up for them: "Nice Welfare Program for Halliburton," or "Generals Test Toys, Get Bored," or "Don't let the sand get in your eyes; Don't let the shrapnel break your heart," or "Pallets of Hundred Dollar Bills, Forked-Lifted to Eternity!" Or how about "Arabian Nights in the Green Zone, Shooting Pool with My Buds--Not" or "Thank You, Mr. President, I've Been Born Again (In a Flagged-Draped Coffin) and My Eyes Can See Clearly Now: There Is No Light at the End of the Tunnel."
No tunnel, no eyes, and that's just as well since Halliburton does not do Walter Reed or any other stateside hospital for our guys--don't you know we've got a budget crisis and we need to stimulate the economy with more big corporation tax cuts.
What Messrs. Rampton and Stauber are all about here however is not satire or cheap noir laughs. The sad truth is the book is just another closely documented, clearly reasoned indictment of the most colossal foreign policy blunder of the twentieth century by an American president, and how it happened.
After an introduction in which the authors recall Tom DeLay enthusing, "We're no longer a superpower. We're a super-duper-power. We are the leader that defends freedom and democracy around the world...When we lead others follow," there's Chapter 1 "The Victory of Spin," in which the war is spun out according to the Cheney-Rumsfeld vision: shock and awe, and garlands of flowers around our heroic necks, and Mission Accomplished! photo ops. We are reminded of just who told what lie and how cowardly were our sycophantic media and cowering Congress.
Chapter 2 is about "Plamegate" (get the SOB's wife!) and the yellowcake road while Chapter 3 gets into the WMDs that were not there and recalls all the lies and misinformation and how the White House and the media kept tantalizingly predicting the imminent finding of same. And then a chapter on how Ahmed Chalabi with help from adorning neocons scammed the US government and made himself and pals rich, richer and--well, not as rich as ExxonMobil or Halliburton execs, but rich enough.
Why do I keep mentioning Halliburton? Well, the book is entitled "The Best War Ever" and if there is anybody in this great big wide wonderful world that might, just might, think the title is purely denotative, it would be Halliburton and subsidiaries.
Chapter 4 celebrates the rewriting of history, George Orwell style. The authors finish up with a couple of chapters focusing on the effect of the war on the Iraqis themselves (huh?). First there was (and is) the dire necessity to under count the civilian dead and maimed. And then there's the melancholy experience of how "victory" faded after the staged fall of Saddam's statue like a ghostly mirage in the desert.
"The new boss, just like the old boss," once sang The Who.
Irony.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-09
This is an interesting book. Anyone who is interested in an alternative to the right wing talk radio and tv news should seriously consider checking out the Thom Hartmann radio show opposite Rush Limbaugh weekdays at: thomhartmann dot com / showlisten.shtml
Whether democrat, republican, or indepedent, so many of the facts out there are completely ignored by the mainstream media and talk shows. This show is one strong example of an examination of the facts regardless of your political affiliation. I am not affiliated with the show in any way, just struck by the facts so many seem to ignore.
Another Iraqi War Book - The Best War Ever,.......2007-02-03
The Best War Ever is actually the second book on the Iraq War by these authors. The First Book, entitled Weapons of Mass Deception was released in July of 2003, a mere four months after the beginning of hostilities and while truck loads of personnel were still canvassing Iraq in a futile search for non-existent WMD.
That fact almost makes them look prescient but the fact remains that the was plenty of evidence around contradicting the White House line for those willing to listen to it.
As this book, The Best War Ever, points out the Iraq war was a product of several failures. The failure of the Media, the Congress, the Administration and the Intelligence community. It was also a product of purposeful disinformation and inertia.
By now we have all heard how ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq were fabricated and reports of WMD were exaggerated and cherry picked to make the best case for war. Well, this book delves into that and more. According to T.B.W.E. the Administration may have been fooled by their own disinformation. Apparently in the late nineties some shadowy department of the Defense or State Departments hired an advertising agency to disseminate disinformation.
Not being versed in subterfuge and underhanded dealings, they hired a man named Chalabi to form a government in exile and thus the Iraqi National Congress was born. Of course we had all heard of the INC and it was thought by many to be a movement of disaffected Iraqi patriots. In fact it became a movement of cash from the US into Chalabi's coffers. At first Chalabi seemed to be the real thing and was the darling of the CIA but as more and more of his statements proved untrue and the information given by defectors he provided was discredited he fell from their favor. Yet, he remained a favorite of the Administration, not because of the truthfulness of what he said but because it helped to move along their agenda.
T.B.W.E. also points to the failure of the media to scrutinize the rational for going to war. In fact they cite The Administrations self proclaimed enemy, the liberal New York Times for being their biggest ally for laying out the case for going to war. The includes Judith Miller the NY times reporter who was getting almost all of her scoops from the aforementioned Chalabi.
Lastly the Administration virtually shamed the congress into allowing them to have their way with Iraq by intimating and insinuating that it was unpatriotic to question the Commander in Chief in a time of war and in fact they still are trying that tactic but with less and less success.
T.B.W.E. is a well written, easily read book on the Iraq fiasco. True there are many of these books out now each of which has the ability to make you mad at the the malfeasance that has transpired. Having read at least a half dozen of these books, each has its own little niche of information, which the others didn't cover and so did T.B.W.E.
I had no idea that Chalabi and Miller has been so instrumental in fomenting the war or that ninety percent of the news articles and opinions leading up to the war were pro-war.
These and many other circumstances covered in this book and others, converged to make the war seem necessary, when in fact the evidence was all around that it wasn't.
Historian.......2007-01-05
It is pesented without any attempt to whitewash the truth, and focuses squarely on all aspects of the subject.
Rampton & Stauber excel with citations/end-notes.......2007-01-02
Not quite as good as Banana Republicans or Weapons of Mass Deception. There were few surprises for anyone who has been following the narrative closely these past 4 years. The best feature of Rampton and Stauber's books is the attention they pay to citing sources for facts they present in the book. The endnotes are copious and most include URLs to source documents.
Average customer rating:
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Censorship of the American Theatre in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama)
John H. Houchin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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Book Description
Arguing that theatrical censorship coincides with significant challenges to religious, political and cultural traditions, John Houchin explores its impact on twentieth-century American theatre. Along with the well-known example of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s, other almost equally influential events affected the course of the American stage during the century. After a summary of censorship in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, Houchin analyzes key political and theatrical events between 1900 and 2000.
Download Description
John Houchin explores the impact of censorship in twentieth-century American theatre, arguing that theatrical censorship coincided with significant challenges to religious, political and cultural systems. The study provides a summary of theatre censorship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and analyzes key episodes from 1900 to 2000. These include attempts to censure Olga Nethersole for her production of Sappho in 1901 and the theatre riots of 1913 that greeted the Abbey Theatre's production of Playboy of the Western World. Houchin explores the efforts to suppress plays in the 1920s that dealt with transgressive sexual material and investigates Congress' politically motivated assaults on plays and actors during the 1930s and 1940s. He investigates the impact of racial violence, political assassinations and the Vietnam War on the trajectory of theatre in the 1960s and concludes by examining the response to gay activist plays such as Angels in America.
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