Product Description
Creativity in Television & Cable Managing & Producing applies the concepts of goal-setting and motivation used in general business to television and cable management. This is the first book to adapt these practices, which have been used in the general business press for many years, to the specific context of television and cable management. William G. Covington Jr. approaches this subject from a systems theory perspective, analyzing motivation and creativity within television stations. He provides guidelines that allow managers to meet the challenge of bringing together very different units into a cohesive whole. This approach maintains an overall focus, while stimulating creativity within the various units in the system. Built upon the natural goal-setting and motivation responsibilities of all managers, this book brings these concepts into the television and cable managing and producing field for the first time. ... Read more

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The successful launch of The NPR Interviews in 1994 proved that many members of National Public Radio's wide audience want to read what they hear to find out what they missed. This edition collects probing, enlightening, and provocative conversations by Jimmy Carter, William Styron, Newt Gingrich, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Robbins, and many others. ... Read more

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The Believer relates the disturbing and provocative story of a Jewish skinhead from Brooklyn. Screenwriter Henry Bean (Internal Affairs, Deep Cover) was inspired by an actual case to write an original script exploring issues close to his own Orthodox Judaism—and then to direct what became the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Everywhere The Believer has been shown it has provoked passionate debate about fundamental assumptions of faith, belief, and ethnic identity. The Believer: Confronting Jewish Self-Hatred is intended to provide a context for the discussion sparked by this controversial film. In addition to the script with an explanatory essay by the filmmaker, The Believer will include additional essays on related topics from such authorities as Cornell Professor Sander Gilman (Anti-Semitism in Times of Crisis), Northwestern Professor Lester Friedman (The Jewish Image in American Film), and Professor of the Talmud and Rabbinics at!Jewish Theological Seminary David Kraemer. The Believer will feature the script of the award-winning film and also be punctuated by shorter “reactions” to the film and its topic solicited from pivotal opinion-makers. “Henry Bean is a big talent and The Believer is his most courageous and thought-provoking work yet!”—Spike Lee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Rosenthal's book is better
Having read both books on Dan Burros I thought the older book on him by Rosenthal called "One More Victim; The Life and Death of a Jewish Nazi" was far better.That one was better researched, maybe because it was written only a year or so after Burros killed himself so the people he knew were still around to be interviewed.The fact that the New York Times reporter who "outed" Burros, which directly led to him shooting himself as soon as he saw the article on page 1 stating his history and that he was Jewish, stated he had no guilt or regret for having published this even knowing Burros 'delicate' state of mind sure wouldn't fly in this era.They would have been sued for that by Burros relatives after his death as there were several witnesses to his death.The other book is hard to find but worth getting if you can.Burros certainly was a fascinating twisted and tormented man.

"Self Hatred and Faithlessness"
This is possibly the most intriging work of Jewish fiction published in the last decade. Based on the real life story of Jewish KKK Wizard Danny Burros (1938-65), this book explores the history, psychology and internal motivations of a young Jew, who out of his self hatred, turned violently against the Jewish people. The real life Danny Burros, committed suicide when the New York Times "outed" him as a Jew in 1965.

The book contains not only Bean's play ironically titled "The Believer" but also outstanding commentary by scholars David Kraemer and Sander Gilman. The play is set contemporaneously, but the course of a young Jew becoming a Nazi out of self hatred is somewhat archaic. Jews are more likely to support Palestinian "liberation" based on self hatred than Nazism these days.

But the truly interesting question is: Why the self hatred at all? This disease has struck Jews all through the history of the Jewish people, and frequently lead those who feel it to persecute the Jewish people, to the point of fanning massacres and riots. In the modern period, it began with towering figures like Marx and Heine, through Lenin and Trotsky, down to the present. Both David Kraemer and Sander Gilman give their own answers for this, derived both from Jewish tradition and modern psychology and literary criticism.

However, given that Jewish self hatred is as old as Judaism itself, these answers, for this reviewer ring quite hollow. I find the answers to this question in the nature of Judaism itself; in that Judaism is a religion of analysis, criticism and argument, which enshrines a tradition of severe self critique and reproof in the Bible itself. One sees the Jewish tendency toward almost violent disagreement from the Torah through the Writings to the end of the Prophets.

In general it takes a very strong individual, to observe and internalize this culture without finding it defacto flawed by excessive internal divisiveness. This reviewer so found Judaism similarly flawed for decades, until he made a thorough and searching study of the Bible and Jewish history, and realized that the God that inspired the Torah, is still with the Jewish people today.

I used this inspiration to write my own commentary on the ideas in The Believer; [...]However, in my case, I discuss in a much more profound way the true causes of Jewish self hatred, which is the illusion fostered by so many different'modernizing' Jewish groups, that God is a thing of the distant past. ... Read more

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This work covers the censorship of "genero chico" dramas, pieces which were commonly used as a conversional and didactic took in New Spain during the first decades of colonial rule. These small theatrical representations and dramatic texts are particularly insightful to the censorial policies as developed and implemented by the ecclesiastical and viceregal authorities of New Spain. Along with the hybridized qualities found in many of the pieces, this work also looks at the criticism of viceregal policies as a reason for censoring these works and reprimanding their authors. ... Read more

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This book explores how traditional television stations are faced with unprecedented competition from new methods of delivering video signals. The book uses systems theory as a framework to view how departments at four stations are competing in the new media environment. Contents: "Introduction: Background of the study; Theoretical Framework; Methodology; Description of the Four Stations; Departments (Subsystems) at the Stations; News Department; Management Profiles: Management as a Subsystem; Applying Systems Theory to the Stations; A Model for TV Station Management in a Multichannel Marketplace; Discussion and Conclusion." ... Read more

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This book is the first serious study of the Victorian Music Hall from a national perspective. It outlines the history of the halls, their programs and the particular composition of their audiences. It then goes on to deal with specific conflicts in London and the regions in terms of class and culture, whereby the London scene is shown as being untypical for the nation as a whole. As such it presents the reader with an entirely new perspective and a wealth of previously unpublished source material. ... Read more

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Each week the editors of Slate, one of the best-loved onlinemagazines, invite a different person to keep a journal to be publishedin real time on the site. The Slate Diaries is a selection of some ofthe finest installments. Contributors include distinguished writerssuch as Cynthia Ozick, Amy Bloom, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell,Dave Eggers, and Douglas Coupland. Also included are figures from theworlds of commerce, art, and government, from Bill Gates to formerPrime Minister Benazir Bhutto to game show host Ben Stein to the rockstar Beck. But some of the most riveting diaries come from people youprobably don't know, among them a school nurse , a NYPD detective, aUPS driver, a writer for "The Simpsons," and an AIDS researcher. In anentertaining introduction, Slate editor Michael Kinsley writes aboutdiaries and why we like to peer into other lives.

Everyone likes to read someone else's diary--so there's something foreveryone in this endlessly browsable, entertaining compendium offascinatin g looks into a diverse range of hearts and minds.

Generally considered home to some of the best writing on the web,Slate is an on-line magazine edited by Michael Kinsley. It currentlyhas more than two million visitors each month.

Sample list of contributors: Beck, Amy Bloom, Douglas Coupland,Roger Ebert, Stanley Fish, David Sedaris , Mavis Gallant, Ben Stein,Benazir Bhutto, Bill Gates, Atul Gawande, Malcolm Gladwell, AllegraGoodman, Andres Martinez, Dan Menaker, Dave Eggers, Daniel Sullivan,Karenna Gore Schiff, Ira GlassAmazon.com Review
One of the most popular features in the pioneering online magazine Slate (edited by Michael Kinsley) is the "Diary"--an actual daily diary written by an interesting person and published in real time. The Slate Diaries collects several dozen of the best. It's impossible to describe their marvelous eclecticism, except perhaps by sharing a few highlights. Tucker Carlson, a writer for The Weekly Standard:

Had the sort of day that gives magazine writers the reputation--entirely deserved--for being lazy and overfed: Played with the kids in the backyard after breakfast, wrote at home till noon, had an enormous lunch at the Palm, returned a few calls, then sat around the office to gossip, telling stories, and trading theories about Clinton's sex life.

Also, find out where Bill Gates says he "must have met more famous people in one place ... than anywhere I've been," what Karenna Gore Schiff (daughter of Al Gore) thinks of her Secret Service codename "Smurfette," and how federal judge Alex Kozinski handles writing a tricky dissenting opinion: "I really want to say that my colleagues are out to lunch, but in a way that won't tick them off." Other contributors include former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, film critic Roger Ebert, memoirist Dave Eggers, writer Malcolm Gladwell, author Michael Lewis, and novelist Cynthia Ozick. The Slate Diaries is a surprising, inspired, and wonderful anthology. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Slate's Diaries

Slate's Diaries are a delight to read.Most of the diaries are short, impressionistic descriptions of the contributors' daily activities, which are artfully and, for the most part, humorously written.

I can say unequivocally that nearly all of the contributors' weekly journals, selected for Slate Diaries, held my attention.Regardless of vocation, these individuals were able to transform the quotidian into interesting and lively stories.As Mike Kinsley suggests, the diary-genre of writing is more difficult than it looks.For some, it comes naturally-perhaps because writers generally keep diaries and they're used to describing events and thoughts.In my opinion, today's journalists are not practicing narrative writing.Lord only knows what would happen if they were asked to describe a landscape, a person's attire, the scent and sounds of the city or the country, or the way a building is designed.This genre of "descriptive" journalistic writing has nearly all but vanished in our major newspapers.Michael Kelly argued that narrative died when the television camera became the "image-maker".

Michael Kinsley initiated the Diarist at the New Republic and thank goodness he has kept the tradition going at Slate.Slate Diaries prove, against the wave of mechanistic writing, that narrative writing is still very much appreciated!It is also fascinating to note that the contributors who are not professional writers-turned out to be the best writers.For example, Lakshmi Gopalkrishnan, a lead site manager for Microsoft Office, wrote a fascinating account of her homeland, while visiting her family in Kerala, India. It has all the qualities of a Chekhov short story: irony, darkness, humor and symbolism. My favorite contributor to Slate is Masha Gessen whose writing rates with Tolstoy's Confessions and Zola's Germinal.

There are a few authors in this collection, however, like Tucker Carlson, who write as if the spotlight were directly on them.And even if there are moments of humor in Carlson's diary, the author's ego eclipses the content.But that is to be expected from Carlson.

Overall, I give this book a rating of 4 stars.It's a good read.

Too many writers writing about writing
What's good about this book: the ordinary, everyday people who aren't writers, journalists or who don't work in publishing. Hell, even Bill Gates fits into this category (though his entry is strangely mundane). Intensely enjoyable, harrowing, shocking, uplifting entries from all walks of life. I don't know where else you'd find this. Some serious, important writing in these entries.

What's bad about this book: way too many entries from journalists, writers or those in publishing. It's inevitable that Slate staffers are going to know lots of these people, but the urge to indulge has not been curbed. Like so manynarcissistic TV shows that are about other TV shows, publishing or the media, this book has way too many writers writing about writing. Well, I have a news flash with story at 11: You're just not that interesting.

Give me more of the New York public defender taking on the hopeless murder cases for the homeless; give me more of the school nurse's insight and wisdom glimpsed through the children she sees; give me more of the hilarious classified ad sales person. What I don't need is more of the self-regarding petulance of the author and literary editor whose story got rejected.

By all means grab a copy of this at the airport and skip the boring entries -- exactly what I ended up doing during a 3 hour delay in Denver. Or head over to the Slate web site and pick the wheat from the chaff yourself. Not a bad book, but not what it claims to be either -- "the best" Slate diary entries.

Are Liberals Essentially The Only Interesting People?
Slate editor Michael Kinsley needs a reality check.This is one of the strangest anthologies ever put into print.There is little reason for anybody to purchase a copy. Every single one of the included diaries are readily available for free.One merely needs to go to www.slate.com's web site and use its search engine. The only benefit of this volume is the assurance of its editors that these diaries are the best of the lot.Other than conservative writer Tucker Carlson these decision makers seemto think that only extremist to moderate Liberals are interesting.Of course one should not overlook the fact that according to an in-house poll Slate is so liberal that only a handful of its staff votedfor the Republican candidate in the recent Presidential election.Why therefore should we be surprised by the inclusion of Al Gore's daughter Karenna as a diarist? The addition of decontructionist philosopher Stanley Fish was particularly irritating.Even the diary of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates reflects the pervasiveLiberalism of its contributors.Gates might be the current foremost champion of capitalism, but it is disquieting to observe the software magnate attending the 75thanniversary dinner of Time magazine where it seems left of center celebrities are the only ones that caught his attention. Like Kinsley and some of the other contributors, Bill Gates also attended HarvardUniversity,a school which appears to indoctrinates its students body into believing that modern day Liberalism is the font of all wisdom and moral decency.

Now that I've ranted and raved about the pervasive Liberalism of the Slate diarists, do I have anything nice to say?The answer is yes. There are many humorousinsights concerning how these people live out their everyday lives.They might be mostly Liberal but I do find them to be intelligent and entertaining.James Fallows,one of my favorite neo-Liberal writers, tells us about the decisions an editor of the U.S. News & World Report must make as the printing deadline approaches. Have you ever wondered how film critic Roger Ebert gets through the day? Now you can find out.Novelist Cynthia Ozick remarks upon the obliviousness of an employer who has not a clue that he shares thesame name with the great Scottish philosopher DavidHume.It has been my experience that most people are ignorant about the fact that there are scholars and scientists with names similar to their own.They seemindifferent unless one can point to a famous sports figure or actor.Jan Reid, a founding writer of the Texas Monthly, recounts about the time he was shot during a robbery in Mexico City.I also cynicallyappreciated the candor of the anonymous professor who reveals the political infighting that is unavoidable for those without tenure.Last but not least, I envied theUPS driver who spots a car with a bumper sticker reading, "I fantasize about the UPS man."Some guys have all the luck!

I recommend buying this book only as a gift.Unfortunately, there are still many people lacking the basic talent of how to find stuff on the Internet.Other than that,simply click five or six strokes to peruse the total diary offerings of Slate.com.

writers turn out to be boring people
I had high hopes for this book, based on the concept and the back cover. However, I far preferred the submissions by regular people writing about their jobs than the tedious entries by writers, which unfortunately overwhelmed the book. Although Michael Kinsley heralded the "instantaneous submission" aspect of these diaries as bringing some extra element, I usually felt they would have been better with more time and thought put into them.

My favorite diary was from the woman who worked in Classified advertising (a hilarious must-read); the anthropologist who consulted with police departments was also pretty interesting. And why such a short entry from Karenna Gore? If anyone has good material from her life, it's the vice president's daugher. This book is NOT a lively updated internet version of Studs Terkel's Working, which is perhaps what I wanted it to be. My advice for anyone thinking of getting this book is to read the diaries online for a time to get a flavor for them.

a wonderful collection
This book is a total delight. I can't decide who I like more: the "professional" writers like Ron Carlson, Cynthia Ozick, Allegra Goodman, David Sedaris, etc., or the amateurs whose diaries are amazingly well written and moving. You certainly get a voyueristic sense from some of these--it is a guilty thrill to read someone's diary. But mostly you just get a ton of great writing. This is fabulous! ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive history of Canada’s oldest public radio station records the human stories and the struggle to survive through turbulent times. Founded as a groundbreaking experiment by the University of Alberta’s Department of Extension, CKUA is now a self-sufficient, listener-supported station that reaches a global audience via the Internet. From heady first years, it survived years of benign neglect under the Alberta government, culminating in a shut-down in 1997. The station has since undergone a dramatic revival and is now flourishing through the efforts of thousands of dedicated listeners. Marylu Walters has drawn together archival sources and original interviews to create a detailed portrait of the station. Happy 75th anniversary, CKUA! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Enhanced with anecdotal stories
CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For by Edmonton-based writer, editor, and dedicated CKUA listener Marylu Walters is the history of CKUA, a radio station that had its beginning on the campus of the University of Alberta and has evolved to enjoy a world-wide audience over the Internet. In addition to being the story of a little radio station that has become a global Internet information dispensing powerhouse, Walters has also captured the political and cultural context of its history including the pioneering spirit that brought the station to life, the creativity that emerged from benign neglect, and the passionate battles that maintained the station through adversity. Enhanced with anecdotal stories told by the people who lived them, CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For is a unique and highly recommended contribution to Communication Arts reference collections in general, and CKUA fans in particular. ... Read more

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Hollywood lifestyles of today have nothing on those of the first half of the last century for opulence and glamour.David Wallace, author of Lost Hollywood, has unearthed new stories and fresh details about some of the era's biggest names and how they lived, worked, and played.The stars' real lives at the dawn of the studio era were infinitely more interesting than anything committed to celluloid, and they're all here.Hollywoodland explores, among other topics:

--high society
--"twilight" guys and gals
--getting high
--dream houses
--great movie music and where it came from
--star retreats and playgrounds
--the mob and the movie business
--celebrated on-screen and off-screen fashions

Hollywoodland is rich and lively history about Hollywood's grandest era, and necessary reading for any fan of the movies and their earliest stars.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A Primer
David Wallace's book us far from being a definitive history, but it's a good place to start if you're interested in the history of the dream factory.Some of the stuff needs elaboration, some of it needs fact checking and all of it needs a good editor.In any case I had fun reading it.

Great Title; Poor content
It's disappointing that not one, but two books by this author, filled with inaccuracies, could find their way to publication. A glance through the chapter about Blondes relates the tired Jean Harlow/Christian Science/Evil Mother Jean story that first appeared in Irving Shulman's 1964 best selling, but totally made-up HARLOW, AN INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY. Mr. Wallace apparently missed both the excellent David Stenn and Eve Golden bios of Jean Harlow that were written in the early 1990's, which refute that legend based on hospital records and other 'minor' facts, etc.
If you are in the mood for salacious gossip unrooted in reality, read Kenneth Anger's books; they are 'classics' of this genre that will leave you howling and hungry for more, unlike copycats like HOLLYWOODLAND, which reminds one of stale bread.

Babylonland
As in his previous volume "Lost Hollywood," Wallace here does little more than recycle the gossip & rumors found in Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon."Much of it is fun reading - for example, it's always amusing to re-visit Mae West's witty one-liners - but the book is rife with factual inaccuracies and typos.Many of them - but certainly not all - have already been cited in other reviews.One correction I might add is that Herbert Stothart, not Max Steiner, was the film composer for "Wizard of Oz."After that sort of gaffe, it becomes difficult to trust Wallace's information (new to me) that "Oz" author L. Frank Baum designed the crown-like chandeliers that still hang in the dining room at the Hotel del Coronado. Wallace's assertion that "Citizen Kane" was "certainly the best" film music Bernard Herrmann ever composed would likely be disputed by most film music critics (the consensus would appear to favor "Vertigo").The absence of even a single footnote and the lack of a bibliography are simply additional indications of a carelessly researched and poorly edited volume.Rather disappointing.

Inaccuracyland
Despite Mr. Wallace's avowed claim to find the "truth behind the anecdotes," this book--just like his first on the subject (Lost Hollywood)--is nothing more than a series of mostly unsubtantiated Hollywood myths coupled with outright inaccuracies (e.g., Mr. Wallace indicates Jean Harlow as being the recipient of James Cagney's grapefruit-in-the-face in the famous "Public Enemy" scene--when, in fact, it was Mae Clarke), held together by numerous misspellings and typos.Only for the desperate!The dust jacket is nice, though.

Hollywood History
"Hollywoodland" has alot of stories about the early history of Hollywood and the movie business. It goes into alot of the gossip and myths surrounding the start of film. I think it is a good book for anyone who wants a good overview of this. I don't think it was very well written. But if you are looking for an easy start to learning about Hollywood history, this would be a good book. ... Read more

Product Description
An engrossing history of public broadcasting, from its initial idealist attempt to reshape the vast wasteland of television, to its current lamentable state - as safe, consistently mediocre and dependent on corporate financing as its commercial counterparts.Amazon.com Review
In Made Possible By..., Village Voice columnist James Ledbetter considers the current state of public broadcasting and finds it decidedly lacking. During its early heyday, NET (National Educational Television, a forerunner of PBS) regularly aired innovative and provocative public-affairs shows; soon, however, public-television managers began toning down controversial content in a desperate--and doomed--attempt to secure government funding. When even these efforts failed, public television increasingly turned to corporate sponsors to fill the gap,resulting in a movement away from adventurous programming in favor of politically inoffensive, "safe" shows such as Sesame Street, Masterpiece Theatre, even Ken Burns's The Civil War. Today, Ledbetter writes, corporate influence rules in public broadcasting, much as it does in commercial television. A savage indictment of corporate underwriting and bureaucratic inefficiency, Made Possible By... is also an eloquent defense of public television's possibilities; Ledbetter envisions public broadcasting as a truly democratic arena--and perhaps the only area of American public life not determined by market forces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

terrible writer,, terrible book
I hope this guy has a day job.

Interesting, important PBS critique from a left perspective.
James Ledbetter's concerns are those of a man of the left, and his book reveals a sense of betrayal. He shows how PBS and its insiders usedan original left constituency in pursuit of political power and financial gain. Dropped once PBS became an established institution were the unions, performers and artists, educators and other nonconformists to whom the promise of a refuge for individualism and dissidence had been made by what turned out to be -- not surprisingly to libertarian critics -- another self-serving government bureaucracy motivated by the aggrandizement of power and wealth. I.F. Stone said "all governments are liars" and Ledbetter seems to include PBS in that judgement.He reveals why some of those who once believed in PBS no longer are able to offer it unconditional support. While non-leftists may not share his vision of a subsidized agitprop network to replace the present system, many of his criticisms of existing problems within PBS are on the mark. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A brilliant piece of work.
Reeves and Campbell cut through all of the drug war crap in this superb cultural analysis.The role of the news -- especially the television network news -- is clear in the creation of a major "drugproblem" and the need for a war on drugs.Need to know why the jailsare overflowing with drug users?As this book points out, the Reagan-eranews loved this "lock 'em up" story. ... Read more

Product Description
The Political Companion to American Film is an encyclopedic collection of critical essays offering provocative social and political commentary on the work of filmmakers (from Woody Allen to Darryl Zanuck) and other film personalities (from Charles Chaplin to John Wayne), film genres (from crime Movies to World War II Animated Propaganda Cartoons), racial and ethnic portrayals (from African Americans to Native Americans), social issues (from Big Businessmen to the Small Town), theoretical and critical issues (from the Auteur Theory toPostwar American Film Criticism), economic and industrial issues (from Conglomerates to the Studio System), and much more.

The Political Companion to American Film features the writing of some of America's leading film critics and authors, many of whom are specialists who have literally written the book on their subjects, and has been edited by Gary Crowdus, Editor-in-Chief of Cineaste, America's leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema.

The expertise and critical insights of these contributors are conveyed in a colorful, comprehensible and jargon-free prose style, and many of the essays include recommended bibliographies. The Political Companion to American Filmwill enrich the cinematic experience for the average moviegoer as well as the film scholar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Crowdus is a Cinematic Political Companion
This book was used as a text for a film class that I took titled, "The Political Image." It consists of a great many topics that shape American cinema and the portrayed political image. It is an excellentreference text, as it has a few pages on many subjects and people(Portrayal of Youth, Jews in American Film, Internationalism, The GangsterGenre,Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Pollock, etc.) I would recommend this bookfor any film student or budding critic. ... Read more

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Product Description
Now entering Hollywood Nation—where fact blurs with fiction, virtue with vice

Millions of Americans are outraged by the radical politics of self-appointed celebrity pundits like Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn, and Susan Sarandon. And actually, these stars’ public pronouncements could be the least of our worries, as New York Times bestselling author and media critic James Hirsen reveals in Hollywood Nation.

Now more than ever, Hirsen shows, Hollywood elites are blurring the lines between entertainment and news to force their views onto the rest of the country. With their politically charged films, distorted documentaries, and skewed docudramas, they’re trying to set the agenda with little regard for the truth. Even worse, many so-called journalists are doing the same thing, dangerously mixing information and entertainment in an attempt to ratchet up ratings—and to inject their own views into the news.

Hollywood Nation also reveals how the New Media are now leading the counterattack against the relentless liberal assault that comes from East Coast newsrooms and Left Coast studios. Through his extensive research and exclusive interviews with news and entertainment iconoclasts—including Bill O’Reilly, Mel Gibson, Ann Coulter, Dick Morris, Peggy Noonan, Laurie Dhue, and many others—Hirsen shows how liberals can no longer dominate the political and cultural debates.

With a sharp eye and a keen wit, Hirsen takes the reader on a fun and fascinating journey through this Hollywood nation of ours. Along the way you’ll discover:

•How mainstream media figures’ fame fundamentally distorts the delivery of news

•How far news organizations are going in their quest to sex things up—and what celebrity journalists are saying about the plastic surgery push

•An exclusive behind-the-scenes account of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ—a fascinating story that captures how the Left is finally losing its stranglehold on information

•A cable news journalist spilling the beans about a rival news channel’s commercial stunt

•How Michael Moore’s films are heralding a new trend toward over-the-top liberal propaganda—but how a newly emerging conservative Hollywood is fighting back

•How the New Media are shaking things up and evening things out

These days we’re just one big Hollywood nation. James Hirsen reminds us all that we need to pay attention to the Hollywood influence—not least because we must combat it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The real Hollywood
This book is the real Hollywood thinks of America.Should read an find out how Hollywood things of our great government.

Even A Rehash Can Shed Some Light
Except perhaps for the liberal elitists of Hollywood, no one else doubts that entertainment and the media have shared the same leftist bed for the last three decades. Further, there is little doubt that this union of media and Hollywood combine to spin the news in ways that raise Democratic causes and debase Republican ones. In HOLLYWOOD NATION, James Hirsen takes the reader down a well-trodden path to prove these very points. In his first three chapters, he focuses on the glitzy aspect of the televised news business.He discusses good looking news anchors who present the news in breezy dumbed down ways that Edward R. Murrow would certainly have found repellent. This part of the book is Hirsen's weakest. Beginning in the fourth chapter, however, Hirsen picks up steam by getting down to his real business--that of slamming the entrenched liberal Powers That Be who not only deny that there is no bias from the left but that if any bias does exist, it comes from the right. Hirsen lists a number of books that prove this pervasive left bias. Most of these are well-known: Bernard Goldberg's BIAS, William McGowan's COLORING THE NEWS, and Ann Coulter's SLANDER. Hirsen notes that the left counters with books that purport to prove the opposite.I have read most of these latter texts--Alterman's WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA and Conason's BIG LIES come to mind--and Hirsen rightfully points out that these authors often undercut their own arguments by admitting that most media moguls are indeed liberal, but they are cosmopolitan enough to recognize and to control their biases, a balancing act that they think they maintain but the more conservative and competing writers cannot.

Hirsen makes his most telling points when he reviews the well-documented failure of Air America to encroach on the turf of talk radio. He scores additional points when he recounts the embarassing meltdown of Dan Rather who even today insists that if the documents purporting to prove that George Bush was absent from duty during his Air Force reserve days were forged, then the possibility that they might have been true is just vindication for his claims. I had a problem with Hirsen's inserting interviews with media stars, not all of whom had much to say that was germaine.I also wondered why he spent so much time with Gibson's PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Still, most of Hirsen's thesis held water. The Hollywood elite does exist, it does spin the news, and it chooses to blur the distinction between learning the news and being entertained by it. HOLLYWOOD NATION is a recommended text for those who still think that the major media presents the news in a fair and even-handed manner. It does not and Hirsen tells the hows and whys.

Lots of old news, interesting bits about movies
Hollywood Nation : Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution by James Hirsen is a bit dishonest in its title.While Hirsen does cover some interesting aspects of how Hollywood's politics is affecting what we see and hear in the media, it doesn't cover all of the aspects I was hoping for.Hirsen trots out the same old liberals names everyone knows: Sarandon, Robbins, Streisand, etc, but doesn't really bring anything new to the table.Yes, we know that the mainstream media is remarkably left of center, but that's nothing that Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, and many others have written about already.The most interesting chapters were those that discussed the hidden messages of movies like Kingdom of Heaven and Million Dollar Baby.I would have enjoyed reading an entire book about more of that along with information about the TV shows that are beamed into our homes claiming to represent middle-class America.One chapter Hirsen could have done without is the long love letter to Mel Gibson about The Passion of the Christ.I was moved by the film, and I deeply respect Gibson for making it, but Hirsen's devotion to him makes the book lose some credibility.Hirsen also interviews several celebrities for the book like Bill O'Reilly and Dayna Devon.The interviews make for interesting reading, but sometimes it feels like Hirsen was throwing Nerf balls instead of hardballs at them.This book is not a must read, but it could have been.

There's a lot to like about this book but.....
A lot of the material in this book is rehashed.

Besides, if you haven't figured out yet that most of these Hollywood "icons" are complete nitwits then don't bother with this book.Just go back to "The Star" or "The National Enquirer".

Films & Politics Collide in Today's Hollywood.
Hollywood 'elites' might like to think they live in a Nation apart from the rest of us, but I have news for them:They are just a small part of the city of Los Angeles and, as such, don't have the clout they may think they do.James Hirsen used to play keyboard for the Temptations; this makes him an expert on the movies of today and yesterday?Previously, he wrote about Hollywood's political activity -- as if the rest of the country really cares! -- in TALES FROM THE LEFT COAST.Perhaps the same thing he is accusing Oliver Stone and Michael Moore of doing is what he also does, tell tales.

He claims that Oliver North tampers with accurracies in his movies, re-defining documentaries.Of Michael Moore, he declares that he uses his docudramas to get votes for the Democrats.If that is true, more power to him!"But on the Hollywood Nation horizon I also see a mounting force that's riding to the rescue like the provrebial calvary."Has he ever heard of the use of a common in grammar?

Of the movies he pans, these I saw and wrote reviews on (my opinions, of course): 'Alexander,' which he claims they changed facts for effects; "Kingdom of Heaven' (about the Crusades), is fiction as it was not really about the Christian revolt; 'The Day After Tomorrow' heuses to jab at Al Gore's warnings about global warming and he lampoons Gore's "discovery" while making use of it with NewsMax.com; 'The Chronicles of Narnia;' and 'We Were Soldiers.'Not a good word to say about any of them.I wonder why he went to see them in the first place.He calls 'Open Water' which I did not see "fiction partially based on a true story made to appear as a documentary.He didn't give his take on 'The March of the Penguins,' which I saw and was accused of being a liberal because of my factual assessment.I'm not.I've never seen "The West Wing" t.v. series, and no reality shows, nor do I have any interest in doing so.It seems he hates everybody, now even Bill Moyers.Lord, help us!

The movies he hated, which I decided against viewing:'Kinsey,' 'The Passion of the Christ' (Jeffrey Hunter will always be 'Jesus' for me), 'Vera Drake,' 'Because of Winn-Dixie,' 'Chicken Little (?), and the 'Kill Bill' craziness for which he said mean things about Quentin Tarantino whose grandmother lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.Nick Clooney wrote a fantastic book about the old movies.They are far superior than the new ones listed above.As is his judgment and commentary.At least, charming Nick does not hate people and his son, George, may someday be as erudite as his 'old' (just kidding, Nick!) dad.

We are now in the Information Age, thanks to the Internet.We have an informastion explosion going on because of our high level of literacy today."A hundred years ago, most people were illiterate and most people consumed nothing.And during the Lincoln presidency, most Americans were not capable of consuming any news at all.They couldn't read."These modern times we live in, you don't have to read to get the news, just watch television."Lots of young people regard [Comedy Central's] 'The Daily Show' as their source of actual news, not 'fake news'."That's sad."Entertainment Weekly" bills itself as the most watched news program on television.The sordid things they choose to air are hardly news, just "publicity stunts" and, at times, "violation of privacy." ... Read more

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