Tales of Militant Chemistry : The Film Factory in a Century of War.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lovejoy, Alice.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eastman Kodak Company--History.

Eastman Kodak Company.

Agfa Aktiengesellschaft für Photofabrikation--History.

Agfa Aktiengesellschaft für Photofabrikation.

Photographic film industry--Social aspects--History--20th century.

Photographic film industry.

Photographic film industry--Military aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Photographic film industry--Military aspects--Germany--History--20th century.

Photography--Films--Environmental aspects.

Photography.

World politics--20th century.

World politics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (239 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2025.

Summary:

The untold story of film as a chemical cousin to poison gas and nuclear weapons, shaped by centuries of violent extraction. The history of film calls to mind unforgettable photographs, famous directors, and the glitz and hustle of the media business. But there is another tale to tell that connects film as a material to the twentieth century's history of war, destruction, and cruelty. This story comes into focus during World War II at the factories of Tennessee Eastman, where photographic giant Kodak produced the rudiments of movie magic. Not far away, at Oak Ridge, Kodak was also enriching uranium for the Manhattan Project--uranium mined in the Belgian Congo and destined for the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. While the world's largest film manufacturer transformed into a formidable military contractor, across the ocean its competitor Agfa grew entangled with Nazi Germany's machinery of war. After 1945, Kodak's film factories stood at the front lines of a new, colder war, as their photosensitive products became harbingers of the dangers of nuclear fallout. Following scientists, soldiers, prisoners, and spies through Kodak's and Agfa's global empires, Alice Lovejoy links the golden age of cinema and photography to colonialism, the military-industrial complex, radioactive dust, and toxic waste. Revelatory and chilling,Tales of Militant Chemistry shows how film became a weapon whose chemistry irrevocably shaped the world we live in today.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

Part I: Building

Chapter One. The Film Factory

Celluloid and Gas

The Model City

Race and Raw Materials

Making Film Safe

Cinema Artificial Silk

The Kodak World

Chapter Two. Story of a Tree

Making Use of the Worthless

Chemistry and Empire

Holston

Strategic Materials

Tales of Militant Chemistry

Threads

Part II: Unraveling

Chapter Three. Taking Stock

Cameras and Guns

A Medium that Turns Ore to Everyday Use

A City Manager in Munich

Cold War, Hot Metals

Chapter Four. Fallout

On the Wind

Black Spots

Insidious

Millions of Gallons

Sensitivity Equals Trouble

Chapter Five. A Fine Line

A Chemical Problem

Water and Bones

Epilogue: The Twenty-First Century

Acknowledgements

Archives and Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Filmography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-520-40295-2

OCLC:

1517397595