The presidents we imagine : two centuries of White House fictions on the page, on the stage, onscreen, and online / Jeff Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Jeff, 1958-

Series:

Studies in American thought and culture.

Studies in American thought and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Political fiction, American--History and criticism.

Presidents in literature.

Political plays, American--History and criticism.

Presidents in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 391 p. ) ill. ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In The Presidents We Imagine, Jeff Smith examines the presidency's ever-changing place in the American imagination. Ranging across different media and analyzing works of many kinds, some familiar and some never before studied, he explores the evolution of presidential fictions, their central themes, the impact on them of new and emerging media, and their largely unexamined role in the nation's real politics.

Contents:

Imagining a president: George Washington and his fictional predecessors

Seeing double: clowns, carnival, and satire in the Antebellum years

Deep, yet transparent: myth, mystery, and "common sense" in post-Civil War presidential fictions

A simple, honest man: presidential character in the fictions of the 1930's and 1940's

The human element: presidential strength, weakness, and difference in the 1960's and 1970's

Who am I? Presidents and their "issues" in fictions of the 1990's

Fictitious times: imagining presidents at the turn of the millennium.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612270581

9780299231835

0299231836

9781282270589

1282270583

OCLC:

679316452

Publisher Number:

2027/heb08790 hdl