×


 x 

Shopping cart
John Sbardellati - J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood´s Cold War - 9780801450082 - V9780801450082
Stock image for illustration purposes only - book cover, edition or condition may vary.

J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood´s Cold War

€ 33.28
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood´s Cold War Hardback. Num Pages: 264 pages, 10, 10 black & white halftones. BIC Classification: 1KBB; APFA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 161 x 240 x 23. Weight in Grams: 524. The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood's Cold War. 264 pages, Illustrations. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: 1KBB; APFA. Dimension: 161 x 240 x 23. Weight: 524.

Between 1942 and 1958, J. Edgar Hoover’s Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a sweeping and sustained investigation of the motion picture industry to expose Hollywood’s alleged subversion of "the American Way" through its depiction of social problems, class differences, and alternative political ideologies. FBI informants (their names still redacted today) reported to Hoover’s G-men on screenplays and screenings of such films as Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), noting that "this picture deliberately maligned the upper class attempting to show that people who had money were mean and despicable characters." The FBI’s anxiety over this film was not unique; ... Read more

In J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies, John Sbardellati provides a new consideration of Hollywood’s history and the post–World War II Red Scare. In addition to governmental intrusion into the creative process, he details the efforts of left-wing filmmakers to use the medium to bring social problems to light and the campaigns of their colleagues on the political right, through such organizations as the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, to prevent dissemination of "un-American" ideas and beliefs.

Sbardellati argues that the attack on Hollywood drew its motivation from a sincerely held fear that film content endangered national security by fostering a culture that would be at best apathetic to the Cold War struggle, or, at its worst, conducive to communism at home. Those who took part in Hollywood’s Cold War struggle, whether on the left or right, shared one common trait: a belief that the movies could serve as engines for social change. This strongly held assumption explains why the stakes were so high and, ultimately, why Hollywood became one of the most important ideological battlegrounds of the Cold War.

Show Less

Product Details

Publication date
2012
Publisher
Cornell University Press
Number of pages
264
Condition
New
Format
Hardback
Number of Pages
264
Place of Publication
Ithaca, United States
ISBN
9780801450082
SKU
V9780801450082
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1

About John Sbardellati
John Sbardellati is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Waterloo.

Reviews for J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood´s Cold War
John Sbardellati offers the most complete study to date of the investigation of communism in Hollywood by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Presenting a sympathetic portrait of Hoover and his bureau, Sbardellati argues that the FBI's surveillance of the movie industry was motivated not by political opportunism but by a 'sincerely held, if ill-founded, fear of Communist propaganda.'... Presenting ... Read more

Goodreads reviews for J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood´s Cold War


Subscribe to our newsletter

News on special offers, signed editions & more!