Gone with the Glory: The Civil War in CinemaFrom Birth of a Nation to Cold Mountain, hundreds of directors, actors, and screenwriters have used the Civil War to create compelling cinema. However, each generation of moviemakers has resolved the tug of war between entertainment value and historical accuracy differently. Historian Brian Steel Wills takes readers on a journey through the portrayal of the war in film, exploring what Hollywood got right and wrong, how the films influenced each other, and, ultimately, how the movies reflect America's changing understandings of the conflict and of the nation. |
Contents
Hollywoods Civil War | 1 |
The Birth of Civil War Cinema | 7 |
Victory Rode the Rails | 17 |
The Romantic Era of Civil War Cinema | 28 |
The House Divided | 38 |
The Personal War | 51 |
A War without Boundaries | 67 |
The Wests Civil War | 82 |
The Angels of Gettysburg | 154 |
The Plight of the Prisoners of War | 165 |
The War and the Waves | 175 |
Screening the Real War | 185 |
Filmography | 187 |
Actors who Wore the Blue | 193 |
Actors who Wore the Gray | 195 |
The Best and Worst of Civil War Cinema | 197 |
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