American history has always been an irresistible source of inspiration for filmmakers, and today, for good or ill, most Americans'sense of the past likely comes more from Hollywood than from the works of historians. In important films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Roots (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), how much is entertainment and how much is rooted in historical fact? In The Columbia Companion to American History on Film, more than seventy scholars consider the gap between history and Hollywood. They examine how filmmakers have presented and interpreted the most important events, topics, eras, and figures in the American past, often comparing the film versions of events with the interpretations of the best historians who have explored the topic.
Divided into eight broad categories—Eras; Wars and Other Major Events; Notable People; Groups; Institutions and Movements; Places; Themes and Topics; and Myths and Heroes—the volume features extensive cross-references, a filmography (of discussed and relevant films), notes, and a bibliography of selected historical works on each subject. The Columbia Companion to American History on Film is also an important resource for teachers, with extensive information for research or for course development appropriate for both high school and college students.
Though each essay reflects the unique body of film and print works covering the subject at hand, every essay addresses several fundamental questions:
What are the key films on this topic?
What sources did the filmmaker use, and how did the film deviate (or remain true to) its sources?
How have film interpretations of a particular historical topic changed, and what sorts of factors—technological, social, political, historiographical—have affected their evolution?
Have filmmakers altered the historical record with a view to enhancing drama or to enhance the "truth" of their putative message?
Peter C. Rollins is Regents Professor of English and American Film Studies at Oklahoma State University and editor in chief of the scholarly journal, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies (www.filmandhistory.org). Peter C. Rollins is Regents Professor of English and American Film Studies at Oklahoma State University and editor in chief of the magazine Film & History (www.filmandhistory.org).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction I. Eras The Puritan Era and the Puritan Mind The 1890s The 1920s The 1930s The 1960s The 1970s The 1980s II. Wars and Other Major Events The American Revolution The Civil War and Reconstruction The Cold War The Korean War The Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War The Vietnam War Westward Expansion and the Indian Wars World War I World War II: Documentaries World War II: Feature Films III. Notable People The Antebellum Frontier Hero Christopher Columbus The Founding Fathers Indian Leaders The Kennedys Abraham Lincoln Richard Nixon Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Harry S. Truman George Washington IV. Groups African Americans After World War II Arab Americans Asian Americans Catholic Americans Children and Teenages in the Twentieth Century Irish Americans Italian Americans Jewish Americans Mexican Americans Native Americans Radicals and Radicalism Robber Barons, Media Moguls, and Power Elites Women from the Colonial Era to 1900 Women in the Twentieth Century V. Institutions and Movements Baseball City and State Government Civil Rights Congress The Family Football Journalism and the Media The Labor Movement and the Working Class Militias and Extremist Political Movements The Political Machine The Presidency After World War II Private Schools Public High Schools VI. Places The Midwest The "New" West and the New Western New York City The Sea The Small Town The South Space Suburbia Texas and the Southwest The Trans-Appalachian West VII. Themes and Topics Crime and the Mafia Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol Elections and Party Politics Feminism and Feminist Films Railroads Sexuality Slavery VIII. Myths and Heroes The American Adam The American Fighting Man Democracy and Equality The Frontier and the West Hollywood's Detective The Machine in the Garden Success and the Self-Made Man List of Contributors Index
Finding a single motivation and accomplishment of the many American films digging in one way or another into history is impossible, but Rollins turns his illuminating and critical eye on the core motifs of most genres and subgenres, and he succeeds admirably. This collection of essays relives history both before the camera and behind it. We are all the better informed for it.
Ray Browne, former secretary/treasurer of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association
Gary R. Edgerton
More people learn about history in movies theaters and by watching television than in classrooms, much to the consternation of many educators. Now Peter Rollins has edited a much-needed one-volume state-of-the-art introduction to how movies depict the past. As editor of the interdisciplinary journal Film & History, Rollins is perfectly situated to marshal together scholars from a wide assortment of disciplinesAmerican studies, communication, English, film, and historyaround a common interest. Written with authority and a refreshing diversity of viewpoints, The Columbia Companion to American History on Film maps out many of the country's more important historical markers, stopping periodically to reconsider and analyze screen versions of America's more notable people, places, institutions, and myths. Reading through this volume is a lot like taking a round trip across the vast expanse of our nation's rich cultural heritage. Well researched and brimming with insights, The Columbia Companion to American History on Film perceptively illustrates how filmmakers have used stories involving historical figures and events to clarify the present and imagine the future for literally tens of millions of viewers over the last century.
Gary R. Edgerton, Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University and coeditor of the Journal of Popular Film and Television
Donald E. Staples
This is a top-notch work which contrasts the historical record against the screen entertainment with excellent academic commentary. The Columbia Companion to American History on Film is a volume of intellectual perspectives which every teacher of history and/or film should have in their personal libraries. I plan to make extensive use of this book in my course on the films of WWII next year. The structure of this text makes it incredibly useful to all teachers in the social sciences and the arts-eras, events, people, places, myths and movements. It's all there in history and on the screen, be it film or television. In CCAHF the authors have 'read' and interpreted the films so that the rest of us can put the historical events in context: timeline, relationships, importance.
Donald E. Staples, former president of the University Film and Video Association and the Society for Cinema Studies