Oscar wars: a history of Hollywood in gold, sweat, and tears / Michael Schulman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schulman, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Academy Awards (Motion pictures)--History.

Academy Awards (Motion pictures).

Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles--History.

Motion picture industry.

California--Los Angeles.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 589 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

History of Hollywood in gold, sweat, and tears

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2023]

Summary:

"The author of the New York Times bestseller Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep returns with a lively history of the Academy Awards, chronicling the brutal battles, the starry rivalries, and the colorful behind-the-scenes drama"-- Dust jacket flap.

"America does not have royalty. It has the Academy Awards. For nine decades, perfectly coiffed starlets, debonair leading men, and producers with gold in their eyes have chased the elusive Oscar. What began as an industry banquet in 1929 has now exploded into a hallowed ceremony, complete with red carpets, envelopes, and little gold men. But don't be fooled by the pomp: the Oscars, more than anything, are a battlefield, where the history of Hollywood--and of America itself--unfolds in dramas large and small. The road to the Oscars may be golden, but it's paved in blood, sweat, and broken hearts. In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas--some iconic, others never-before-revealed--that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes. Caught in the crossfire are people: their thwarted ambitions, their artistic epiphanies, their messy collaborations, their dreams fulfilled or dashed. Featuring a star-studded cast of some of the most powerful Hollywood players of today and yesterday, as well as outsiders who stormed the palace gates, this captivating history is a collection of revelatory tales, each representing a turning point for the Academy, for the movies, or for the culture at large"--Dust jacket flap.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: One. You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, 1927-29

The Academy's turbulent birth

Two. Rebels, 1933-39

Frank Capra and the attack of the guilds

Three. War! 1942

The plot against Citizen Kane

Four. The Greatest Star, 1951

All about an extraordinary Best Actress race

Five. Who Is Robert Rich? 1947-60

Three screenwriters and the Hollywood blacklist

Six. X, 1970

The counterculture takes the Oscars

Seven. Running The Asylum, 1976

The Oscars fly over the cuckoo's nest

Eight. Fiasco, 1989

Allan Carr and the "Worst Oscars Ever"

Nine. The Harveys, 1999

Shakespeare in Love vs. Saving Private Ryan

Ten. Tokens, 1940, 1964, 2002

Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier, and Halle Berry make history

Eleven. The Envelope, 2017

#Oscars So White and a chaotic night.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 501-559) and index.

ISBN:

9780062859013

0062859013

9780063297715

006329771X

OCLC:

1352484996

Publisher Number:

99993005793