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The Reel Civil War

Mythmaking in American Film

by Bruce Chadwick


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This scholarly study explores the role of the Civil War in American cinema--both in well-known works such as THE BIRTH OF A NATION and in lesser known but equally important films--and also how perceptions of the war have been influenced by cinema.


Available editions of The Reel Civil War

9780375409189 9780375409189, Hardcover, Random House Inc, 2001

$3.50 (Very Good Plus)

Other copies of 9780375409189
   
9780375708329 9780375708329, Paperback, Vintage Books, 2002

$3.60 (Very Good )

Other copies of 9780375708329
   

Publisher Notes

During the late nineteenth century, magazines, newspapers, novelists, and even historians presented a revised version of the Civil War that, intending to reconcile the former foes, downplayed the issues of slavery and racial injustice, and often promoted and reinforced the worst racial stereotypes. The Reel Civil War tells the history of how these misrepresentations of history made their way into movies.

More than 800 films have been made about the Civil War. Citing such classics as Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind as well as many other films, Bruce Chadwick shows how most of them have, until recently, projected an image of gallant soldiers, beautiful belles, sprawling plantations, and docile or dangerous slaves. He demonstrates how the movies aided and abetted racism and an inaccurate view of American history, providing a revealing and important account of the power of cinema to shape our understanding of historical truth.

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