The Secret History of Star Wars [Paperback]

Michael Kaminski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2008

Star Wars is one of the most important cultural phenomena of the Western world. The tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker has become modern myth, an epic tragedy of the corruption of a young man in love into darkness, the rise of evil, and the power of good triumphing in the end. But it didn’t start out that way. In this thorough account of one of cinema’s most lasting works, Michael Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written, from its beginnings as a science fiction fairy tale to its development over three decades into the epic we now know, chronicling the methods, techniques, thought processes, and struggles of its creator. For this unauthorized account, he has pored through over four hundred sources, from interviews to original scripts, to track how the most powerful modern epic in the world was created, expanded, and finalized into the tale an entire generation has grown up with.

Product Details

• Paperback: 626 pages
• Publisher: Legacy Books Press; First edition edition (November 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978465237
• ISBN-13: 978-0978465230
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Version of Lucas' Creative Evolution of the Star Wars Saga December 28, 2008

By J. Bongiorno

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Kaminsky's rock-solid work unquestionably belongs alongside Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars, as both a companion piece and an in-depth exploration of the creation of the six-film saga, as it actually unfolded.

The very point of this book is to cut through all the marketing, publicity and years of contravention to show the expanding genesis of the Star Wars story from the original drafts to the "Star Wars" standalone film that was "from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker" to the mythically deeper "Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes IV to VI" to the thematic reconstruction of the "Star Wars Saga: The Tragedy of Darth Vader: Episodes I to VI".

In so doing, author Michael Kaminsky provides not only reasonable deductive examinations, but actual facts via published interviews that go back to the earliest sources and the circumstances surrounding the creation of each film, demonstrating in full how important story elements came to be. And how others were dropped. We see how Lucas' personal life impacted and was impacted by the making of the films (Particularly sad is Lucas' obsession with the construction of Skywalker Ranch that not only hampered the creative integrity of Return of the Jedi, but cost him his wife and half his fortune).

Beyond the fascinating unveiling of the true story behind the development of Darth Vader from a mere mustachio-twirling henchman to the greatest villain in movie history to the tragic figure that emerged in Revenge of the Sith, The Secret History of Star Wars is a chronicle of the genius and imperfection of George Lucas. In this, the author remains ever impartial, never stooping to fanboyish complaining, but neither sugarcoating less pleasant facts. This is an unbiased, rational journal that can be considered the definitive history of the formation of the Star Wars saga.

Despite its 533 pages (not counting endnotes), it's a page-turner and is written in an easy-to-follow writing style. Because of its dense matter in untangling early drafts, numerous articles/interviews and various versions of stories, the author is not shy about aiding the reader through the reiteration of certain elements previously explained throughout the book. This is never overdone and proves rather helpful in our era of information overload.

The lid blown off the notion that the saga was the slow unveiling of a thoroughly developed story contained in a volume Lucas wrote in the early 70's, what emerges is the creative reality behind the development of a grand epic not unlike Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle-Earth that showed Tolkien's creative impetus at work. Lucas emerges as a conceptual genius, painstakingly transforming an action-oriented homage to the B-serials of the 30's into a far deeper, grander epic of tragedy and gravitas, hurt only by occasional insecurity, a willingness to present a false picture to the media and at times less-than-artistic concerns. A fully human being emerges through which the struggles of Luke and Anakin can be seen as reflections of their creator, himself a larger-than-life figure beset by triumph and tragedy, moving from humble beginnings to heading his own empire, dually idolized and demonized by the critics and fans, a brilliant man who's contributions to the world of film and literature and pop-culture are only now being to be understood.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Authoritative Masterpiece for Hardcore Star Wars Geeks and Film Buffs! January 16, 2009

By John Rumley

Format:Paperback

The Secret History of Star Wars qualifies as a truely groundbreaking study of the Star Wars franchise as a storytelling process in history. The author (Michael Kaminski) has examined a vast, vast sum of archival, obscure and well known sources, read through every single screenplay draft and little personal note Lucas made, and arrived with this exhaustive survey of how little Georgie Lucas stumbled into the film history in the late 1960s and eventually decided to make an adaptation of Flash Gordon--and how that eventually turned into 1977's Star Wars, and how the story of that film was expanded, twisted upside down, and eventually given back to us thirty years and six films later as the six-episode Star Wars Saga of our present times.

As far as I know, this is the first work to not only treat the franchise seriously from the standpoint of scholastic analysis and independent historical overview, but it also might be the first work to consider the films as both the six-episode "Saga" that was only recently completed as well as the various intermidiaries as it went through the process of transforming from Star Wars, The Movie to The Star Wars Trilogy. The book is absolutely loaded with info, much of it I hadn't known (and I consider myself well read on the series and its history). Most impressive is its challenge of the many "myths" surrounding the series--it seems everything about this franchise gets written by Lucasfilm itself and just repeats about how Star Wars was the "little engine that could" and that Lucas had brilliantly schemed up the entire plot to the series in the 1970s. The truth is much more complicated--and interesting! Particularly illuminating is the shocking yet undeniable evidence that Darth Vader wasn't even written to be Luke's father until AFTER the first film was released, and there is lots of interesting info on the Sequel Trilogy that Lucas now swears never existed. The author also gives the prequels equal treatment as Lucas took his brilliant original trilogy and slowly re-made it into a (not quite as successful) Tragedy of Darth Vader storyline. The book also subtly tells the story of Lucas' life in parallel to his films, a story that is equally entertaining.

Quite simply, this is a well-researched piece of work, though its quite thick at about 600 pages, and written somewhat dryly. My only complaint, and one that almost made me give it 4 stars, is that there are a number of spelling and punctuation mistakes throughout, at least a dozen of them (!), and also a few awkward paragraphs--what happened, mr. editor??! Its a minor complaint in the scheme of things, but I couldn't help notice them.

All in all, however, I would highly recommend this book to Star Wars geeks and film scholars interested in turning over stones on a piece of film history that no one has ever honestly, accurately and compellingly covered as The Secret History of Star Wars does.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, you made your point already..... February 4, 2011

By impliedi

Format:Paperback

I found "The Secret History of Star Wars" to be a very fascinating read, however, I had to knock 2 stars off of the review because it appears that this book was never seen by an editor. The book could easily have been about 1/4 or 1/3 the size, because Kaminski makes his points over and over and over and over and over again, often times using the exact same words and, at times, inside of the exact same paragraph. It seems that Kaminski doesn't think his readers are going to be able to grasp his concepts by just telling you once. And that's sad because the points he makes and the theories he has are quite interesting, but I found myself dying to get to the next chapter because I couldn't take the repetitiveness. So, I definitely suggest this book for Star Wars fans, but be prepared to jump ahead to the next chapter once you realize that he's already made his point for this chapter and isn't going to add any new information.