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Popular Culture March 2020
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| The Guilty Feminist: You Don't Have to Be Perfect to Overthrow the Patriarchy by Deborah Frances-WhiteWhat it is: a witty and thought-provoking expansion of Australian comedian Deborah Frances-White's The Guilty Feminist podcast.
What's inside: the author's musings on topics like Brexit, toxic masculinity, diet culture, intersectionality, religion, and white privilege.
Don't miss: interviews with a diverse group of women and nonbinary people, including actress Susie Wokoma and body positivity advocate Jessamyn Stanley. |
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| Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard SnowWhat it is: a lively, well-researched chronicle of the development of Disneyland, the iconic California amusement park that opened in 1955.
Read it for: profiles of the workers who tirelessly helped make the park a reality, like former United States Navy admiral and submarine designer Joe Fowler, who built the Mark Twain Riverboat.
Try this next: David Koenig's Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World offers an immersive behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Disney's east coast park. |
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| Sidney Lumet: A Life by Maura SpiegelStarring: five-time Academy Award-nominated director Sidney Lumet (1924-2011), best known for helming the 1970s classics Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network.
What sets it apart: Supplemented with materials from an unfinished memoir and interviews with Lumet's loved ones and collaborators, this first-ever biography of the quintessential "actor's director" offers rare insights into his creative process and relationships.
Reviewers say: "Essential reading for movie fans" (Booklist). |
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| Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark HarrisStarring: directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, and William Wyler, who put their talents to use during World War II by creating military training films, propaganda, and documentaries.
Read it for: a perceptive look at how the war impacted their lives and careers -- particularly Stevens, whose experiences filming the horrors of Dachau informed his directing of 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank.
Media buzz: Five Came Back is the basis for the Emmy Award-winning Netflix docuseries of the same name narrated by Meryl Streep. |
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The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent...
by Mallory O'Meara
Who it's about: pioneering makeup and special effects artist Milicent Patrick, who designed the monster for Universal's 1954 film The Creature from the Black Lagoon and worked as one of the first female animators at Disney.
Why it matters: Patrick's contributions to her craft have gone largely ignored, thanks to the sexism of jealous male employers who fired her for her successes -- and then denied her credit for her work.
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| Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American... by Anne Helen PetersenWhat it is: a thoughtful re-appraisal of some of Hollywood's earliest scandals that reveals how public perception of stars' off-screen misdeeds reflected the tensions surrounding evolving social norms.
Topics include: Fatty Arbuckle's rape case; the smear campaign that derailed "It Girl" Clara Bow's career; Mae West's arrest for indecency; Rudolph Valentino's "slave bracelet."
Reviewers say: "brisk and lively" (Library Journal). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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