Review
Matthew Bernstein's Screening a Lynching is an impeccably researched and consistently enlightening inquiry into the media backfire from a notorious instance of a commonplace practice―the lynching in 1915 of the convicted rapist-murderer Leo Frank, a Jew from New York, by a mob of outraged Georgians. A marvelously synoptic work of cultural history that illuminates issues of race, ethnicity, religion, law, and cinematic representation (to name a few), Bernstein's penetrating study offers unique insights into a case that continues to haunt the American imagination.
-- Thomas Doherty ― author of Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration
Screening a Lynching examines four Hollywood treatments of the infamous Leo Frank affair. Equally enlightening on the motivations of the producers and directors behind each project―two for film, two for TV―and the actual facts of the case, the book takes as its deeper concern the inherent tension between creative license and historical accuracy in reality-based dramas. This is a rich topic, and Bernstein handles it with aplomb.
-- Steve Oney ― author of And the Dead Shall Rise
Matthew Bernstein has written a detailed study of four very different mediums―two television shows, and two films―all based on the same actual murder case and its aftermath. Screening a Lynching is provocative, compelling and utterly original. I highly recommend it.
-- Alfred Uhry ― Pulitzer Prize winning author of Driving Miss Daisy
An amazingly original analysis of how this tragic case has been interpreted in fiction and film.
-- Leonard Dinnerstein ― author of The Leo Frank Case
Bernstein’s strong book effectively places these four films within their historical context. . . .[His] work is a valuable addition to a growing body of work on the Phagan-Frank case and its impact on American Culture.
-- Kirsten Fermaglich ― Journal of American Ethnic History
In this brilliant examination, [author Matthew H.] Bernstein examines the racist thread that kept open the case and its treatments in the media. . . . Searching through daunting but uncommonly rich archival material, the author tracked court cases bent on uncovering new evidence for pardoning Frank. As a Jew in 1913 he loomed as guilty, yet as a white man his case plead for reopening (in prior years Americans had, on average, lynched more than 100 victims, most of them black). This book deserves the widest possible audience.
-- Choice Review
Matthew Bernstein's Screening a Lynching is an impeccably researched and consistently enlightening inquiry into the media backfire from a notorious instance of a commonplace practice-the lynching in 1915 of the convicted rapist-murderer Leo Frank, a Jew from New York, by a mob of outraged Georgians. A marvelously synoptic work of cultural history that illuminates issues of race, ethnicity, religion, law, and cinematic representation (to name a few), Bernstein's penetrating study offers unique insights into a case that continues to haunt the American imagination.
Screening a Lynching examines four Hollywood treatments of the infamous Leo Frank affair. Equally enlightening on the motivations of the producers and directors behind each project-two for film, two for TV-and the actual facts of the case, the book takes as its deeper concern the inherent tension between creative license and historical accuracy in reality-based dramas. This is a rich topic, and Bernstein handles it with aplomb.
Matthew Bernstein has written a detailed study of four very different mediums-two television shows, and two films-all based on the same actual murder case and its aftermath. Screening a Lynching is provocative, compelling and utterly original. I highly recommend it.
An amazingly original analysis of how this tragic case has been interpreted in fiction and film.
Bernstein's strong book effectively places these four films within their historical context. . . .[His] work is a valuable addition to a growing body of work on the Phagan-Frank case and its impact on American Culture.
In this brilliant examination, [author Matthew H.] Bernstein examines the racist thread that kept open the case and its treatments in the media. . . . Searching through daunting but uncommonly rich archival material, the author tracked court cases bent on uncovering new evidence for pardoning Frank. As a Jew in 1913 he loomed as guilty, yet as a white man his case plead for reopening (in prior years Americans had, on average, lynched more than 100 victims, most of them black). This book deserves the widest possible audience.
About the Author
MATTHEW H. BERNSTEIN is professor, chair, and director of graduate studies in the Film Studies Department at Emory University. He is author or editor of four books, including John Ford Made Westerns: Filming the Legend in the Sound Era and Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent.
