Writing history with lightning : cinematic representations of nineteenth-century America / edited by Matthew Christopher Hulbert and John C. Inscoe.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hulbert, Matthew C., editor.

Inscoe, John C., 1951- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History in motion pictures.

Historical films--United States--History and criticism.

Historical films.

United States.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

ix, 335 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Cinematic representations of 19th century America

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [2019]

Summary:

"As opposed to previous volumes focused on topics like slavery or the West, Writing History with Lightning edited by Matthew Christopher Hulbert and John C. Inscoe offers an expansive look at how films represent the history of nineteenth-century America and, in turn, how those depictions influence the ways in which mass audiences remember, envision, and reimagine the nation's past. Across twenty-six essays, a group of prominent historians, including Catherine Clinton, Kenneth Greenberg, and Marcus Rediker, moves beyond separating fact from fiction to consider the raw power that movies possess in influencing broad interpretations of American history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : reappraising a century's worth of lightning / Matthew Christopher Hulbert

I. Frontiers, empire, and the early nation. The far horizons : the Lewis and Clark saga as a surfeit of stereotypes / Donna J. Barbie

We are Melville's monsters : In the heart of the sea as eco-horror in the age of climate change / Brian Rouleau

"Some say he's dead, some say he never will be" : mountain men and the frontier-hero myth in Jeremiah Johnson and The revenant / Jacob F. Lee

Andrew Jackson and the ladies : The gorgeous hussy and The president's lady / John F. Marszalek

Delineating Davy, defining ourselves : The Alamo in 1960 and in 2004 / James E. Crisp

II. Slavery and the antebellum South. A fugitive slave in southern Appalachia : The journey of August King / John C. Inscoe

Birth and rebirth : filming Nat Turner in the age of fake news / Kenneth S. Greenberg

History white-washed : reflections on Steven Spielberg's Amistad / Marcus Rediker

"I survive" : individual, community, and slavery in Steve McQueen's 12 years a slave / William L. Andrews

"Now you are ready for Mandingo" : sex, slavery, and historical realism / Diane Miller Sommerville

Mint julep melodrama : Jezebel / Catherine Clinton

III. Sectional crisis and civil war. From "Bleeding Kansas" to Harpers Ferry via Santa Fe Trail / Nicole Etcheson

Abraham Lincoln on film / Michael Burlingame

Glory : "heroism writ large, from people whom history had made small" / John David Smith

"And does it matter, after all, who wins?" : the movie Gettysburg and popular perceptions of the Civil War / Lesley J. Gordon

Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York : racial ambiguity in New York City's Five Points / Graham Russell Gao Hodges

The assassin's accomplices : guilt, innocence, and redemption in The prisoner of Shark Island and The conspirator / Jonathan D. Sarris

IV. The lost cause, Reconstruction, and the West. Historical to a fault : Gary Ross, Free state of Jones, and the (eventual) destruction of the lost cause / Joseph M. Beilein Jr.

Sommersby : identity, imposture, and (re)construction in the post-Civil War South / Tom Lee

Knights of the twenty Years' War : race and American exceptionalism in The hateful eight / Matthew E. Stanley

The silver lining of "bad history" at the movies : Reconstruction, Confederate exiles, and The undefeated / Matthew Christopher Hulbert

Custer's last stands : remaking a frontier legend in Hollywood film / Kevin Waite

V. Late-century economics and immigration. Far and away : the stereotype of the Irish immigrant story / Ryan W. Keating

Silver screen, Bright leaf : Hollywood's cigarette habit / Drew A. Swanson

Adaptation and autonomy on the Lower East Side : the Jews of Hester Street / Stephen J. Whitfield

"We've taken old gods and given them new names" : the spirit of Sankofa in Daughters of the dust / Allison Dorsey.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references, filmography (pages 311-313) and index.

ISBN:

9780807170465

0807170461

OCLC:

1060180551