Hollywood's Cold War

by Tony Shaw

Overview

At a moment when American film reflects a deepening preoccupation with the Bush administration's War on Terror, this authoritative and timely book offers the first comprehensive account of Hollywood's propaganda role during the defining ideological conflict of the twentieth century: the Cold War. In an analysis of films dating from America's first Red Scare in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Tony Shaw examines the complex relationship between filmmakers, censors, politicians, and government propagandists. Movies, Shaw demonstrates, were at the center of the Cold War's battle for hearts and minds. Hollywood's comedies, love stories, musicals, thrillers, documentaries, and science fiction shockers played a critical dual role: on the one hand teaching millions of Americans why communism represented the greatest threat their country had ever faced, and on the other selling America's liberal-capitalist ideas around the globe. Drawing on declassified government documents, studio archives, and filmmakers' private papers, Shaw reveals the different ways in which cinematic propaganda was produced, disseminated, and received by audiences during the Cold War. In the process, he addresses subjects as diverse as women's fashions, McCarthyism, drug smuggling, Christianity, and American cultural diplomacy in India. Anyone seeking to understand wartime propaganda today will find striking contemporary resonance in his conclusions about Hollywood's versatility and power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558496125
Publisher:	University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date:	10/24/2007
Series:	Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tony Shaw is reader in international history at the University of Hertfordshire.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements     vii
List of Abbreviations     ix
Introduction     1
Love and defection     9
The enemy within     42
Projecting a prophet for profit     72
Of gods and moguls     103
Negotiable dissent     135
Turning a negative into a positive     167
A cowboy in combats     199
Secrets and lies     234
The empire strikes back     267
Conclusion     301
Bibliography     310
Film Index     332
General Index     335

What People are Saying About This

Christian G. Appy

Politically nuanced, historically contextualized, and internationally informed, Hollywood's Cold War is essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating subject. Tony Shaw's analysis is both penetrating and comprehensive. The broad range of films he studies will greatly expand conventional understandings of the Cold War's impact on American filmmaking.

Editorial Reviews

"Politically nuanced, historically contextualized, and internationally informed, Hollywood's Cold War is essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating subject. Tony Shaw's analysis is both penetrating and comprehensive. The broad range of films he studies will greatly expand conventional understandings of the Cold War's impact on American filmmaking."--Christian G. Appy, author of Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides

"This is a complex and rewarding book held together with a coherent argument but not afraid to admit the many-sided possibilities when interpreting cultural products. . . . This is a fine, well-researched work."--H-Net Reviews

"A very broad and inclusive history of the interaction between U.S. films and the Cold War, covering the period from 1917 to 1989. Basing his narrative on extensive research, including archival materials, Shaw is objective and analytical in his approach. He deals with a wide variety of genres: documentaries, government, and Hollywood; the repressive atmosphere of the McCarthy era; the Vietnam War; the struggle for civil rights; and government subsidies. The U.S. position during the Cold War influenced and was influenced by Hollywood films. Presidents of both parties, bureaucrats, and security agencies, and military leaders used film to spread pro-American ideas and images, with mixed success. The book has extensive footnotes and an excellent bibliography. Important for political and cultural history. Highly recommended."--CHOICE

"A sprightly and very informative volume, which analyzes how Communists and their adversaries were shown on the big screen. Shaw also provides an often intriguing backstory in which particular forces and folks make the artifacts of mass culture that help shape perceptions . . . The extent of Shaw's research in official records and studio files, plus comprehensive trolling of the secondary sources, is bound to satisfy the most exacting standards, but in Hollywood's Cold War he wisely opts for case studies rather than synoptic breadth."--Journal of Cold War Studies

"[Shaw] makes a persuasive case. It is abetted by a levelheaded tone, a crisply informative manner, and an approach more concerned with telling a story than grinding an ax."--American Historical Review

"This book makes a significant contribution to the historiography of the Cold War. Shaw makes an excellent case that Cold War was fought culturally, as well as diplomatically, economically, and militarily. . . . It will prove indispensable to anyone considering further research and to those teaching courses on U.S. Cold War cinema."--The Historian

"Shaw meticulously researched book, Hollywood's Cold War, investigates the history of the mainstream American film industry's willing collusion with Washington to produce and disseminate anti-Communist entertainment nationally and internationally, while simultaneously marketing American capitalist ideologies to the world."--Screening the Past

From the Publisher

Shaw meticulously researched book, Hollywood's Cold War, investigates the history of the mainstream American film industry's willing collusion with Washington to produce and disseminate anti-Communist entertainment nationally and internationally, while simultaneously marketing American capitalist ideologies to the world.

Screening the Past

This book makes a significant contribution to the historiography of the Cold War. Shaw makes an excellent case that Cold War was fought culturally, as well as diplomatically, economically, and militarily.... It will prove indispensable to anyone considering further research and to those teaching courses on U.S. Cold War cinema.

The Historian

[Shaw] makes a persuasive case. It is abetted by a levelheaded tone, a crisply informative manner, and an approach more concerned with telling a story than grinding an ax.

American Historical Review

A sprightly and very informative volume, which analyzes how Communists and their adversaries were shown on the big screen. Shaw also provides an often intriguing backstory in which particular forces and folks make the artifacts of mass culture that help shape perceptions... The extent of Shaw's research in official records and studio files, plus comprehensive trolling of the secondary sources, is bound to satisfy the most exacting standards, but in Hollywood's Cold War he wisely opts for case studies rather than synoptic breadth.

Journal of Cold War Studies

A very broad and inclusive history of the interaction between U.S. films and the Cold War, covering the period from 1917 to 1989. Basing his narrative on extensive research, including archival materials, Shaw is objective and analytical in his approach. He deals with a wide variety of genres: documentaries, government, and Hollywood; the repressive atmosphere of the McCarthy era; the Vietnam War; the struggle for civil rights; and government subsidies. The U.S. position during the Cold War influenced and was influenced by Hollywood films. Presidents of both parties, bureaucrats, and security agencies, and military leaders used film to spread pro-American ideas and images, with mixed success. The book has extensive footnotes and an excellent bibliography. Important for political and cultural history. Highly recommended.

CHOICE

This is a complex and rewarding book held together with a coherent argument but not afraid to admit the many-sided possibilities when interpreting cultural products.... This is a fine, well-researched work.

H-Net Reviews

A very broad and inclusive history of the interaction between U.S. films and the Cold War, covering the period from 1917 to 1989. Basing his narrative on extensive research, including archival materials, Shaw is objective and analytical in his approach. He deals with a wide variety of genres: documentaries, government, and Hollywood; the repressive atmosphere of the McCarthy era; the Vietnam War; the struggle for civil rights; and government subsidies. The U.S. position during the Cold War influenced and was influenced by Hollywood films. Presidents of both parties, bureaucrats, and security agencies, and military leaders used film to spread pro-American ideas and images, with mixed success. The book has extensive footnotes and an excellent bibliography. Important for political and cultural history. Highly recommended.

H-Net H-Diplo

A very broad and inclusive history of the interaction between U.S. films and the Cold War, covering the period from 1917 to 1989. Basing his narrative on extensive research, including archival materials, Shaw is objective and analytical in his approach. He deals with a wide variety of genres: documentaries, government, and Hollywood; the repressive atmosphere of the McCarthy era; the Vietnam War; the struggle for civil rights; and government subsidies. The U.S. position during the Cold War influenced and was influenced by Hollywood films. Presidents of both parties, bureaucrats, and security agencies, and military leaders used film to spread pro-American ideas and images, with mixed success. The book has extensive footnotes and an excellent bibliography. Important for political and cultural history. Highly recommended.

Choice