The Hollywood Writers' Wars [Paperback]

Sheila Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2001

The story of the battle to form the Screen Writers’ Guild is for the first time told fully and in riveting detail, based on diaries, letters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and hundreds of interviews with Hollywood people. Brilliantly recreated is the political turmoil that shattered the Hollywood community through the 1930’s and into the 40’s—leading to House Un-American Activity Committee and the blacklist.

“Hollywood of that era has a narcotic fascination for many of us. The book is crammed with compelling movieland figures….The riches Nancy Lynn Schwartz unearthed deserved our attention.”
—J. Anthony Lukas, The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is invaluable for anyone interested in Hollywood politics...It is written with grace, wit and style." -- Philip Dunne, Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author

Nancy Lynn Schwartz was twenty-two when she received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, to write this book. She had finished all of the research and most of the writing when she died suddenly, at the age of twenty-six. The book was completed by her mother, Sheila Schwartz, author and professor at SUNY, New Paltz, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Backinprint.com (June 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059519060X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595190607
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,880,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious look at a serious time, January 23, 2012

By 

Martin P. Turnbull (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hollywood writers' wars (Paperback)

It's always amazed me how Hollywood could treat its writers with such contempt. Without the writers, how could anything have been made? And then, when the anti-communist scare came along, the writers were the first ones who Hollywood turfed overboard. I wanted to understand better how that happened, and found the answers in this book. But note: this isn't a breezy readable account that you can knock off in an afternoon sitting by the fire. It's a serious account, dealt with seriously and with the reverence it deserves. It's such an important work that when the original author died before it was finished, her mother took over the project and saw it to its worthy conclusion, and I'm so glad she did. -- Martin Turnbull, the author of the "Garden of Allah" series. The Garden on Sunset

5.0 out of 5 stars A Long Ignored history of Hollywood's screen writers, May 28, 2011

By 

Jay Marvin "jaymarvin" (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hollywood Writers' Wars (Paperback)

I was lucky to find a hard cover copy of this book. Read it and find out the real history of people like Walt Disney, Irving Thallburg, and why the Academy Awards are such a joke! Found this book by accident and glare I did. These men and women were brave and stood up against the movie machines and the newspapers it controlled.