The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The first behind-the-scenes history of the organization behind the Academy Awards. For all the near-fanatic attention brought each year to the Academy Awards, the organization that dispenses those awards—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—has yet to be understood. To date, no one has ever produced a thorough account of the Academy's birth and its awkward adolescence, and the few reports on those periods from outside have always had a glancing, cursory quality. Yet the story of the Academy's creation and development is a critical piece of Hollywood's history. Now that story is finally being told. Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy for over twenty years, was given unprecedented access to its archives, and the result is a revealing and compelling story of the men and women, famous and infamous, who shaped one of the best-known organizations in the world. Davis writes about the Academy with as intimate a view of its workings, its awards, and its world-famous membership. Thorough and long overdue, The Academy and the Award fills a crucial gap in Hollywood history. First edition. Hard cover. Brandeis University Press (2022) New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. SIGNED DATED & LOCATED FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING Hardcover: new. Dust jacket: new. Personally signed, dated, and located by the author to the full title page 10/25/22 Pasadena. First edition, first edition. Dust jacket is wrapped in protective archival grade mylar. Photos available upon request.