The Hollywood history of the world

George MacDonald Fraser, Kobal Collection

Harvill Press, 1996 - Performing Arts - 263 pages

There is a fashionable myth that Hollywood always gets its history wrong. George MacDonald Fraser believes that it often gets it right, and that we owe a huge unacknowledged debt to the cinema as an illuminator of the story of mankind. Drawing on his experiences as an historical novelist, historian, and screenwriter, he puts the case for the costume movies - Biblical, classical, swashbuckler, imperial, Western, and even the gangster film - not only as entertainments but, at their best, as pictures of the past "more vivid than Tacitus or Gibbon or Macaulay."

What people are saying

Review: The Hollywood History of the World: From One Million Years BC to Apocalypse Now

User Review  - Ensiform - Goodreads

Lavishly illustrated with movie stills. The writer of historical fiction, and WWII vet, discusses a wide range of films that can be called “historical” (some more justifiably than others). The book is ...

Review: The Hollywood History of the World

User Review  - Joe Noir - Goodreads

This is how history looks from the Hollywood point of view. A cool book with many photos from the author of the Flashman series.

Contents

• THE ANCIENT WORLD: 17
• KNIGHTS AND BARBARIANS: 51
• ROMANCE AND ROYALTY: 107

About the author

The author of the famous Flashman Papers and the Private McAuslan stories, George MacDonald Fraser worked on newspapers in Britain and Canada. In addition to his novels he has also written numerous films, most notably The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and the James Bond film, Octopussy. He is also the author of Quartered Safe Out Here about his World War II service in Burma and The Steel Bonnets about the Anglo-Scottish wars. He passed away in 2008.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Hollywood history of the world
• Authors: George MacDonald Fraser, Kobal Collection
• Editor: George MacDonald Fraser
• Edition: revised, illustrated
• Publisher: Harvill Press, 1996
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: Apr 11, 2008
• ISBN: 1860462014, 9781860462016
• Length: 263 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Industries / Entertainment; History / General; Performing Arts / Film & Video / General; Performing Arts / Film & Video / History & Criticism