The Holocaust in American Film, Second Edition

Paper $19.95s    |   0-8156-2926-5    |   2001

This groundbreaking book has been updated with an expanded introduction and two new chapters to focus on Holocaust films of the last two decades including Schindler's List and made-for-television films such as Playing for Time and War and Remembrance.

Reviews
"The author examines an impressive range of films that includes lesser-known examples as well as more widely recognized titles. More importantly, she situates discussion of the films’ historical meanings in their critical and social contexts and relies on a thorough presentation of how the films’ receptions were activated. It is an admirable piece of scholarship balancing film analysis with historical research, presented in a well-argued, highly readable style. Includes a valuable bibliography on the cultural history of the Holocaust."
— Choice

"An impressive range of films that includes lesser-known examples as well as more widely recognized titles. . . . [Doneson] situates discussion of the films' historical meanings in their critical and social contexts and relies on a thorough presentation of how the films' receptions were activated. . . . An admirable piece of scholarship balancing film analysis with historical research, presented in a well-argued, highly readable style. Includes a valuable bibliography on the cultural history of the Holocaust."
— Choice

Description
This volume offers keen insights into how specific films influenced the Americanization of the Holocaust and how the medium per se helped seed that event into the public consciousness.

In addition to an in-depth study on films produced for both theatrical release and TV since 1937—including The Great Dictator, Cabaret, Julia, and the mini-series Holocaust—Doneson provides a sweeping analysis of Schindler’s List and the debate over the merit of Steven Spielberg’s vision of the Holocaust. She also examines more thoroughly made-for-television movies, such as Escape from Sobibor, Playing for Time, and War and Rememberence. A special chapter on The Diary of Anne Frank discusses the evolution of that singularly European work into a universal symbol.

Paying special attention to the tumultuous 1960s in America, Doneson assesses the effect of the era on Holocaust films made during that time. She also discusses how these films helped integrate the Holocaust into the fabric of American society, transforming it into a metaphor for modern suffering. Finally she explores cinema in relation to the Americanization of the Jewish image—and of Jewish history itself.

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Author
Judith E. Doneson taught the Holocaust in film at Tel Aviv University. She is currently writing a series of scripts for Hebrew University on developing a filmed history of the contemporary Jewish world.

6 x 9, 272 pages, 37 photographs, filmography, notes, bibliography, index