Publication

1998 - University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Language

English

Word Count

55,000 words, Guess

Page Count

220 pages

Identifiers

  • Open LibraryOL702439M
  • ISBN-100820320013
  • OCLC Control Number38106139
  • Library of Congress Control Number97051434
  • LibraryThing1404584
and 1 more
  • Goodreads3787647

Classifications

  • DDC791.43/658
  • LCCD744.55 .B45 1998

Description

The glow of 1945 persists as a kind of beacon for American society, symbolic of an era when good and evil were easily defined. This image is at the center of Philip D. Beidler's entertaining look at the way World War II reshaped American popular culture. Beidler captures the aura of the times as he chronicles the production histories of more than a dozen projects with wartime themes, examining how books and plays evolved into films, how stars were considered and selected, technical problems and personality conflicts during production, and the public's reactions. From the upbeat tempo of the musical South Pacific to the weary disillusionment of The Best Years of Our Lives, from the patriotic nostalgia of Life's Picture History of World War II to the moral ambiguity of From Here to Eternity, a powerful mythology of the war developed. As a consequence, the line between fact and fiction has blurred for the war generation and its inheritors, and Hollywood's version of the Good War has become enshrined as historical fact in the nation's collective memory.

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