Spyscreen: Espionage on Film and TV from the 1930s to the 1960s

Book Description

Spyscreen is a genre study of English-language spy fiction film and television between the 1930s and 1960s. Taking as his focus many well-known films and television series, Toby Miller uses a wide range of critical approaches - from textual interpretation, audience studies, and cultural history, through auteurism, imperial history, class, and governmentality, to genre, cultural imperialism, and gender. Beginning with an overview of the social and political background to the history, production, and analysis of spy fiction, topics discussed include the first canonical espionage movie, The 39 Steps, key film noir texts such as Gilda and The Third Man, the figure of popular spies, including James Bond, and the importance of women to the genre. The result is not just an insightful new study of key texts in this popular genre; it is an important intervention in the methodology and practice of Screen Studies.

Spyscreen: Espionage on Film and TV from the 1930s to the 1960s

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Spyscreen: Espionage on Film and TV from the 1930s to the 1960s
Toby Miller
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKZO98

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Interesting Character

Intriguing book, not as good as book on Garfield..

A Lot To Like

Tweed - The Boss of it All !

good stuff on "Peace Democrats" vs. Lincoln

Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York
Kenneth D. Ackerman
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 078671686X

Book Description

Among the monumental characters who ascended to impossible renown and influence in the history of American politics, few are more fascinating than Boss Tweed; and few working historians could record in more vivid detail his astonishing career than Kenneth D. Ackerman—an investigative historian of the first order.

Ackerman's vibrant, accessible, and altogether captivating Boss Tweed is a biography of the legendary figure who "bribed the state legislature, fixed elections, skimmed money from city contractors, and diverted public funds on a massive scale." During his reign at Tammany Hall and then in a variety of elected posts, including as U.S. senator, Tweed wielded almost total control over New York State and City politics, before his unparalleled zealotry and remorseless disregard for the law led to his imprisonment. Yet, as the author shows, Tweed’s positive political contributions have been largely overlooked. From one of the most talented new historians to have emerged in recent years, this book presents a thrilling story of the master manipulator who tried to make all of New York the instrument of his own ruthless ambitions, and succeeded—for a time. More than sixty photos and political cartoons by Thomas Nast are featured throughout.

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Interesting Character.......2007-07-11

William Tweed needed a book written about him. It is interesting to see how the city used to be run and how much more difficult it is to be corrupt today compared to then. Tweed changed america with his ways and I liked the fact the author points out in many ways he was the fall guy for many others.

Intriguing book, not as good as book on Garfield.........2007-01-12

I started reading Kenneth Ackerman's take on the notorious Boss Tweed after reading his superb book on James Garfield. Ackerman still shows a knack for bringing us back in time and we begin to understand the major personalities. Boss Tweed was a complex man, and at times I felt cheering for him to beat his eniemies who really seem worse than him. Nobody in this book has pure motives. The NY Times wanted fame and hated the Irish. Nast also hated the Irish and saw bringing down Tweed as a moral crusade, facts be damned. Tilden is seen as a two-faced wimpy man who did want reform but wanted to destroy Tweed more. Tweed himself was a thief but he did give back to the city he stole from, and he was the only major player in "The Ring" to have had major jail time. His associates in crime got off scot-free mainly due to a stubborn wish to damn Tweed.

A Lot To Like.......2006-12-18

I was impressed and entertained by this biography of William Marcy Tweed, the man who ran New York from the Civil War to the early 1870s. I was fascinated from the very beginning by the retelling of Tweeds role in quelling the New York draft riots. And he did it in such a quintessentially New York way: money! But what emerges is a remarkably three dimensional portrait of the man and his cronies in all their splendor. One of my favorite characters in this biography was Mayor Oakey Hall, the poet-politician who didn't mind a little kick-back or two.

The City came alive through the telling of this important, though little understood period of New York History. The "Gangs of New York" fantasyland version of the facts has done much damage to an accurate understanding of this period of our history. But Ackerman brings great writing and depth to the story of the Tweed ring and its speedy collapse. Interestingly, Tweed himself was the only member of the ring to go to jail. And while it is hard to argue that he didn't deserve it, it seemed a manifest unfairness to let the others off without any repercussions. Tweed, on the other had, spent the rest of his life in jail (except fr when he escaped to Cuba and Spain!)

The other part of the tweed story that was so intriguing was his everlasting popularity. He was the champion of New York's poorest and their loyalty to him was eternal. He was larger than life and projected a charisma that probably delayed his day of reckoning for years. This is a great telling of a great story of a fallen man. It is interesting to compare him to others who have this route, such as Nixon, Delay, Cunningham, and the like, and see how much of a difference there seems to be.

Tweed - The Boss of it All !.......2006-07-10

This is a great look at Boss Tweed, Tammany, Graft and everything else that was going on in the 1800's. I was happily surprised to see who Tweed really was. Comparing the book to the movie "Gangs of New York", Tweed did not give off the impression of being a very important man; Bill the Butcher stole that role. But after reading this book, you get a true inside account of who was really "pulling the strings" in NYC. Tweed was the cream of the crop in his world, and he had his hands in everything (a thief way before his time). Whether illegal or not - you have to admire his accomplishments. In a way, he was like the bad guy in a movie that you didn't want to see fall at the end, but he did. This book was very satisfying and I am now looking into some of Ackerman's other books as well.

good stuff on "Peace Democrats" vs. Lincoln.......2006-03-27

Mr. Ackerman presents interesting descriptions of the "Peace Democrats" -- the so-called Copperheads -- many of whom lived in the New York area, and were enemies of Boss Tweed: Samuel Tilden (who received a majority of the popular vote in 1876, but lost the presidential election to the Republican Hayes), Horatio Seymour (the NY governor who declared the Emancipation Proclamation unconstitutional), Fernando Wood (the NY mayor who proposed in 1861 that the city secede from the Union!), and George McClellan (the retired general who ran against Lincoln as the war raged on, winning only three of the participating 25 states -- the president edging him in New York state by a single percentage point).
The Copperheads couldn't abide the military draft, the war, or the president who was attempting to defeat tyranny. Sound familiar in 2006?

The author, though, has an irritating compulsion to put the black hat -- not on Boss Tweed -- but on cartoonist Thomas Nast, who played a major role in toppling Tammany Hall. Mr. Ackerman gives other hints throughout the book of belonging to the school of "moral equivalence."
Nast (born in Germany and who died in Ecuador as one of our consuls there) won great praise from Presidents Lincoln, Grant, and Teddy Roosevelt.

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Compulsively readable

The Kenneth Williams Diaries
Kenneth Williams
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Carry On Collection

ASIN: 0006380905

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Compulsively readable.......2004-10-05

I find this book unputdownable, even though it fills me at times with despair, disgust and irritation. Kenneth Williams was a British actor and comedian of the 50s, 60s and 70s with an acute intelligence and a unique gift for comedy. He was gay, and for many years of his working life homosexuality was illegal. His comic persona used the "camp" stereotype and private language in a way that was far funnier than others in the same (small) field, or anyone since (Julian Clary, Graham Norton). He was widely read, inventive and gifted at ad libbing and eventually earned a living on chat shows and panel games. He had many friends in the theatre who obviously enjoyed his company. He was an excellent writer, one of the things that makes this diary worth reading. His writing is often as funny and perceptive as you'd expect from his public persona, revealing the surreal in the ordinary. But the diary also reveals a man with a dark side, someone who never found a way of living that made him happy. You long to say "Kenneth! Get some therapy!" His self analysis too often turns into navel gazing. He was tortured by guilt over his sexual feelings, constantly making contradictory statements and apparently trying to persuade himself he was above all that. He could also behave appallingly to people -- all faithfully recorded. He clearly came home and wrote the diary, justifying what he'd done. He certainly brooded over wrongs, but he often records apologising and making up. He has flashes of self-insight - that he really only feels at home among people outside his theatrical set. He really was extremely talented - and bigheaded with it. He must have been a nightmare to have in a cast, constantly thinking he knew better and trying to take over. Particularly in the early entries, he sometimes waffles on pretentiously, using long words you feel he doesn't quite understand, and giving an imitation of someone being profound. Then he'll follow the pomposity with a hilarious bit of observation written in a direct and slangy way. As a warts and all portrait, this is unequalled. And incidentally gives a fascinating insight into the stage/screen/radio/TV of the period. Sadly, he took his own life.

The Diary and Life of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1674-1744

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Mis-titled?

The Diary and Life of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1674-1744
Kenneth A. Lockridge
Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)

ASIN: 0807817368

Customer Reviews:

Mis-titled?.......1997-10-03

I was disappointed to learn that, despite the title, this is not really the "diary" of William Byrd II. Sections of his diary are included, but this is more properly understood as a biography, with relatively little primary material. The conclusions of an academic historian may be interesting, but if the book is billed as a "diary," I would prefer to see the primary material in its entirety, and then conclude whether or not the professor has it right!

The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)

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The Commonplace Book of William Byrd II of Westover (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)
Kevin Berland
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Diary and Life of William Byrd II of Virginia, 1674-1744

ASIN: 080782612X
Release Date: 2000-12-03

Book Description

William Byrd II (1674-1744) was an important figure in the history of colonial Virginia: a founder of Richmond, an active participant in Virginia politics, and the proprietor of one of the colony's greatest plantations. But Byrd is best known today for his diaries. Considered essential documents of private life in colonial America, they offer readers an unparalleled glimpse into the world of a Virginia gentleman. This book joins Byrd's Diary, Secret Diary, and other writings in securing his reputation as one of the most interesting men in colonial America.

Book Description

On Human Nature: A Gathering While Everything Flows brings together the late essays, autobiographical reflections, an interview, and a poem by the eminent literary theorist and cultural critic Kenneth Burke (1897-1993). Burke, author of Language as Symbolic Action, A Grammar of Motives, and Rhetoric of Motives, among other works, was an innovative and original thinker who worked at the intersection of sociology, psychology, literary theory, and semiotics. This book, a selection of fourteen representative pieces of his productive later years, addresses many important themes Burke tackled throughout his career such as logology (his attempt to find a universal language theory and methodology), technology, and ecology. The essays also elaborate Burke's notions about creativity and its relation to stress, language and its literary uses, the relation of mind and body, and more. Provocative, idiosyncratic, and erudite, On Human Nature makes a significant statement about cultural linguistics and is an important rounding-out of the Burkean corpus.

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Just Williams
Kenneth Williams
Manufacturer: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0460046888

An Apostle of the North: Memoirs of the Right Reverend William Carpenter Bompas (Western Canada Reprint Series)

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An Apostle of the North: Memoirs of the Right Reverend William Carpenter Bompas (Western Canada Reprint Series)
H. A. Cody
Manufacturer: The University of Alberta Press
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Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Bishop William Carpenter Bompas was a difficult man, cantankerous, stubborn, and more than a little eccentric. He carried on his shoulders the deep spirituality of his own faith, the assumptions of his background, and the cultural aggressiveness of the Victorian age. He was a church leader who often disagreed with his church and ignored its advice. Bompas's life in the North offers insights into the compelling forces of religion and faith. In a new Introduction, historians William Morrison and Ken Coates examine Bompas's career, exploring themes central to the history of the church in Canada and to aboriginal-newcomer relations.

On the Sources of Patriarchal Rage: The Commonplace Books of William Byrd and Thomas Jefferson and the Gendering of Power in the Eighteenth Century (History of Emotions)

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A twisted interpretation of the founding father's views

On the Sources of Patriarchal Rage: The Commonplace Books of William Byrd and Thomas Jefferson and the Gendering of Power in the Eighteenth Century (History of Emotions)
Kenneth Lockridge
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0814750893
Release Date: 1994-09-01

Customer Reviews:

A twisted interpretation of the founding father's views.......2001-05-21

This is an attempt to understand the psychology of the late 18th century Virginia gentry by exploring the writings of some of its more prominent male menbers. Lockridge culls his evidence from the commonplace books of Thomas Jefferson and William Byrd, in which the subjects collected jokes, quotations, and parables that they found to be particularly illuminative. While Lockridge acknowledges that the perspectives of two men cannot be wholly transferable to their entire class, he hopes that his subjects are representational enough that some insight into the general beliefs of the gentry can be found in their writings. However, by focusing on narrow periods in the authors' lives in a strictly constructed context, while adding a heavy dose of his own (questionable) psychoanalysis, Lockridge excludes much evidence that could provide a more balanced assesment of gentry values.

Lockridge rests his case on the belief that the personality failings of Jefferson and Byrd were somehow representational of a broad misogynistic conviction among upper-class Virginia men. While continuously undermining his own argument by admitting that among the scores of commonplaces he has read, he found nothing similar to the "misogynistic rage" uncovered in the writings of these two men, he is nonetheless certain that these aberrations were somehow deeply reflective of true patriarchal hatred for women. Despite the fact that his own sources make clear that these expressions of misogyny appeared in response to personal failures with women (Byrd was spurned in romance, and Jefferson was unhappily controlled by his mother during his rebellious teenage years) Lockridge argues that it is not enough to agree that these outbursts were reflective of bad personal experiences with women, but that we need to "understand what mental categories are invoked on such an occasion." Understanding what Lockridge means by this would be far more enlightening, however. He goes on to insist that because entries concerning women appear in the same time frame as those about power and rebellion, they must be indisputably connected in the authors' minds, despite the fact that the two men had much to say about these themes in other contexts.

Despite the problems in the work, the conclusions Lockridge ultimately draws about patriarchy are rather convincing, though more concrete evidence than he has presented would be required to prove them. He argues that rather than fearing women for their sexual or political power, it was economic control that most consternated gentrymen, as widows had the ability to control their own property (though Jefferson's attempts to change the legal code so that females could inherit property from their parents would seem to contradict the idea that he personally felt this way.)

Lockridge claims that the point of his study was simply to show that males were under pressure from women because female economic power had the potential to undermine male hegemony in controlling the structure of their newly created world. This is certainly a valid and interesting point; it is thus all the more unfortunate that the body of his essay does little to reinforce it.

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Kenneth Burke and the Drama of Human Relations, Second edition
William H. Rueckert
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Binding: Paperback

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