Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1184216
5 8 P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 R E S O U R C E S LETTERS FROM HOLLYWOOD: INSIDE THE PRIVATE WORLD OF CLASSIC AMERICAN MOVIEMAKING BY ROCKY LANG, BARBARA HALL Letters from Hollywood reproduces in full color scores of entertaining and insightful pieces of correspondence from some of the most notable and talented fi lm industry names of all time—from the silent era to the golden age, and up through the pre- email days of the 1970s. Culled from libraries, archives and personal collections, the 135 letters, memos and telegrams are organized chronologically and are annotated by the authors to provide backstories and further context. While each piece reveals a specifi c moment in time, taken together, the letters convey a bigger picture of Hollywood history. Contributors include celebrities like Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Cary Grant, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Hanks and Jane Fonda. This is the gift book of the season for fans of classic Hollywood. HOLLYWOOD CHINESE: THE CHINESE IN AMERICAN FEATURE FILMS BY ARTHUR DONG Author and fi lmmaker Arthur Dong takes the reader on a guided tour of Chinese American fi lm history, from the hyper-stereotyped portrayals of Chinatown Tong Wars to the exoticized romances, starring glamorous actresses like Anna May Wong and Nancy Kwan. He highlights the issues and challenges of Hollywood's history, including the controversial casting of white actors in Asian roles, known as "yellowface." Richly detailed and comprehensive in scope, Hollywood Chinese shows how the industry has evolved, beginning with War of the Tongs (1917), billed to white audiences as "planned and executed by the Chinese" and ending with Crazy Rich Asians (2018), the fi rst fi lm with an all-Asian cast in a quarter century. Throughout the book, Dong unearths hidden gems from fi lm history, documenting the Chinese and Chinese American actors, screenwriters, directors and producers who worked in Hong Kong, Taipei, San Francisco and elsewhere, producing spectacular fi lms in both Chinese and English for global audiences. All but lost to history, those fi lms have been carefully uncovered and presented here. SOUL OF A NATION: ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER BY MARK BENJAMIN GODFREY, ZOÉ WHITLEY In the period of radical change that was 1963-83, young Black artists at the beginning of their careers confronted diffi cult questions about art, politics and racial identity. How to make art that would stand as innovative, original, formally and materially complex, while also making work that refl ected their concerns and experience as Black Americans? Soul of a Nation surveys this crucial period in American art history, bringing to light previously neglected histories of 20th-century Black Artists, including Sam Gilliam, Melvin Edwards, Jack Whitten, William T. Williams, Howardina Pindell, Romare Bearden, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Senga Nengudi, Noah Purifoy, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Charles White and Frank Bowling.