An eminent historian of film, Steven J. Ross is recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Films Scholars Award and author of the prize-winning book, Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America.His new book is Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics.
At the Wall Street Journal, Ross named a list of the five best books about politics and the movie industry. One title on the list:
Hedda Hopper's HollywoodRead about another book on the list.
by Jennifer Frost (2011)
Gossip is not something we usually associate with serious studies of politics. Yet few columnists had more influence in shaping the ways millions of Americans thought about movies, movie stars and politics than sharp-tongued conservative Hedda Hopper. During the height of her power from the 1940s to the 1960s, she passed information to the FBI, endorsed the investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee, helped force Charlie Chaplin into exile, and repeatedly warned readers of the dangers that Hollywood's liberal and radical films and movie stars posed to the nation, especially to impressionable children.
The Page 99 Test: Steven J. Ross's Hollywood Left and Right.
--Marshal Zeringue
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