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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies

Amazon.com Review
In our increasingly visual culture, a growing amount of what we learn about history comes from the movies. This unusual and cornucopian book draws on the knowledge of 60 experts who examine the historical accuracy of a splendid array of classic movies such as Julius Caesar, Aguirre the Wrath of God, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Last of the Mohicans, Gallipoli, and Gandhi. They reveal what each movie has done right and wrong in portraying the complex threads of the stories as known to the world's most qualified scholars. Highly Recommended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Perhaps this summer's boomlet of historical movies and costume dramas have sparked interest, for this is only one of several recent books by historians examining films set in the past. Editor Carnes (Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America, LJ 8/89) persuaded 60 historical writers, including such popular figures as Gore Vidal, William Manchester, Antonia Frasier, James McPherson, and Frances FitzGerald, to write an original piece on an historical film. The authors gleefully skewer, pick apart, praise, and censure film classics such as Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Man for All Seasons, Spartacus, Jurassic Part, Patton, etc. There is, not surprisingly, considerable nitpicking over historical details, but the writers seem to share a common fondness for the movies. Indeed, several confess that their interest in history was first awakened by a film they saw as a child. Film buffs will thoroughly enjoy. Highly recommended for large public libraries and subject collections.?Marianne Cawley, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.