Reviews
A madly ambitious marriage of revelatory cultural history and great storytelling, Pictures at a Revolution is every bit as smart and radical and sexy as the movies it brings to life." --David Hajdu, author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street "Mark Harris has pulled off brilliantly what many of us only attempt. He has used a narrowly focused subject-five movies competing for Best Picture in 1967- to tell the larger, richly textured story of that tumultuous time. He traces the making of each of the movies-among them, Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate -with the kind of detailed, dramatic narrative that makes the book a page-turner, even for someone who is not a movie buff. And his profiles of the major characters (my favorites were Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Mike Nichols) are the most interesting I've seen." --Connie Bruck, author of The Predator's Ball , Masters of the Game , and When Hollywood Was King " Pictures at a Revolution is exactly what its title promises: an in- depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans-Old Hollywood versus the New-with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way-all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film." --William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger "I've been waiting a long time for someone to explain to me exactly what happened to the movies during the 1960s-and someone finally has. Luckily he's witty, nervy, original, widely knowledgeable from the board room to the back room, and has no trouble putting Dr. Dolittle and Bonnie and Clyde in the same critical universe. That's the 1960s for you...all movie history books should be written by Mark Harris." --Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine "An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it." --Christine Vachon, producer, author of Shooting to Kill, A madly ambitious marriage of revelatory cultural history and great storytelling, Pictures at a Revolution is every bit as smart and radical and sexy as the movies it brings to life." --David Hajdu, author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street "Mark Harris has pulled off brilliantly what many of us only attempt. He has used a narrowly focused subject-five movies competing for Best Picture in 1967- to tell the larger, richly textured story of that tumultuous time. He traces the making of each of the movies-among them, Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate -with the kind of detailed, dramatic narrative that makes the book a page-turner, even for someone who is not a movie buff. And his profiles of the major characters (my favorites were Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Mike Nichols) are the most interesting I''ve seen." --Connie Bruck, author of The Predator''s Ball , Masters of the Game , and When Hollywood Was King " Pictures at a Revolution is exactly what its title promises: an in- depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans-Old Hollywood versus the New-with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way-all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film." --William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger "I''ve been waiting a long time for someone to explain to me exactly what happened to the movies during the 1960s-and someone finally has. Luckily he''s witty, nervy, original, widely knowledgeable from the board room to the back room, and has no trouble putting Dr. Dolittle and Bonnie and Clyde in the same critical universe. That''s the 1960s for you...all movie history books should be written by Mark Harris." --Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine "An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it." --Christine Vachon, producer, author of Shooting to Kill, A madly ambitious marriage of revelatory cultural history and great storytelling, Pictures at a Revolutionis every bit as smart and radical and sexy as the movies it brings to life." --David Hajdu, author of Lush Lifeand Positively 4th Street "Mark Harris has pulled off brilliantly what many of us only attempt. He has used a narrowly focused subject-five movies competing for Best Picture in 1967-to tell the larger, richly textured story of that tumultuous time. He traces the making of each of the movies-among them, Bonnie and Clydeand The Graduate-with the kind of detailed, dramatic narrative that makes the book a page-turner, even for someone who is not a movie buff. And his profiles of the major characters (my favorites were Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Mike Nichols) are the most interesting I've seen." --Connie Bruck, author of The Predator's Ball, Masters of the Game, and When Hollywood Was King "Pictures at a Revolutionis exactly what its title promises: an in-depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans-Old Hollywood versus the New-with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way-all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film." --William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger "I've been waiting a long time for someone to explain to me exactly what happened to the movies during the 1960s-and someone finally has. Luckily he's witty, nervy, original, widely knowledgeable from the board room to the back room, and has no trouble putting Dr. Dolittleand Bonnie and Clydein the same critical universe. That's the 1960s for you...all movie history books should be written by Mark Harris." --Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine "An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it." --Christine Vachon, producer, author of Shooting to Kill, A madly ambitious marriage of revelatory cultural history and great storytelling, "Pictures at a Revolution" is every bit as smart and radical and sexy as the movies it brings to life." --David Hajdu, author of "Lush Life" and "Positively 4th Street" "Mark Harris has pulled off brilliantly what many of us only attempt. He has used a narrowly focused subject-five movies competing for Best Picture in 1967-to tell the larger, richly textured story of that tumultuous time. He traces the making of each of the movies-among them, "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate"-with the kind of detailed, dramatic narrative that makes the book a page-turner, even for someone who is not a movie buff. And his profiles of the major characters (my favorites were Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Mike Nichols) are the most interesting I've seen." --Connie Bruck, author of "The Predator's Ball," "Masters of the Game," and "When Hollywood Was King" ""Pictures at a Revolution" is exactly what its title promises: an in-depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans-Old Hollywood versus the New-with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way-all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film." --William J. Mann, author of "Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn "and "Edge of Midnight: The Lifeof John Schlesinger" "I've been waiting a long time for someone to explain to me exactly what happened to the movies during the 1960s-and someone finally has. Luckily he's witty, nervy, original, widely knowledgeable from the board room to the back room, and has no trouble putting "Dr. Dolittle" and "Bonnie and Clyde" in the same critical universe. That's the 1960s for you...all movie history books should be written by Mark Harris." --Jeanine Basinger, author of "The Star Machine" "An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it." --Christine Vachon, producer, author of "Shooting to Kill", A madly ambitious marriage of revelatory cultural history and great storytelling, Pictures at a Revolution is every bit as smart and radical and sexy as the movies it brings to life."--David Hajdu, author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street "Mark Harris has pulled off brilliantly what many of us only attempt. He has used a narrowly focused subject-five movies competing for Best Picture in 1967- to tell the larger, richly textured story of that tumultuous time. He traces the making of each of the movies-among them, Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate -with the kind of detailed, dramatic narrative that makes the book a page-turner, even for someone who is not a movie buff. And his profiles of the major characters (my favorites were Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, and Mike Nichols) are the most interesting I've seen."--Connie Bruck, author of The Predator's Ball , Masters of the Game , and When Hollywood Was King " Pictures at a Revolution is exactly what its title promises: an in- depth, up-close view of the films and filmmakers that transformed American cinema during an extraordinary period of innovation and insurrection. What we have here is a clash of the titans-Old Hollywood versus the New-with the entire enterprise of American filmmaking hanging in the balance. Like a skilled novelist, Mark Harris keeps us turning the pages, with heroes to root for, villains to hiss, and plenty of intrigue along the way-all set against the psychedelic backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. A remarkable reconstruction of perhaps the most significant artistic moment in the history of American film."--William J. Mann, author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn and Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger "I've been waiting a long time for someone to explain to me exactly what happened to the movies during the 1960s-and someone finally has. Luckily he's witty, nervy, original, widely knowledgeable from the board room to the back room, and has no trouble putting Dr. Dolittle and Bonnie and Clyde in the same critical universe. That's the 1960s for you...all movie history books should be written by Mark Harris."--Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine "An exhilarating read for anyone who cares about the myriad ways movies can shape popular and political culture. I loved it."--Christine Vachon, producer, author of Shooting to Kill
