Research Catalog

Title

Ben Hecht : fighting words, moving pictures / Adina Hoffman.

Author

Hoffman, Adina

Publication

• New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 245 pages : illustrations, portraits; 22 cm.

Summary

"He was, according to Pauline Kael, 'the greatest American screenwriter.' Jean-Luc Godard called him 'a genius' who 'invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.' Besides tossing off dozens of now-classic scripts--including Scarface,Twentieth Century, and Notorious--Ben Hecht was known in his day as ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During World War II, he also emerged as an outspoken crusader for the imperiled Jews of Europe, and later he became a fierce propagandist for pre-1948 Palestine's Jewish terrorist underground. Whatever the outrage he stirred, this self-declared 'child of the century' came to embody much that defined America--especially Jewish America--in his time. Hecht's fame has dimmed with the decades, but Adina Hoffman's vivid portrait brings this charismatic and contradictory figure back to life on the page. Hecht was a renaissance man of dazzling sorts, and Hoffman--critically acclaimed biographer, former film critic, and eloquent commentator on Middle Eastern culture and politics--is uniquely suited to capture him in all his modes"--Jacket.

Series Statement

Jewish lives

Uniform Title

Jewish lives (New Haven, Conn.)

Alternative Title

Fighting words, moving pictures

Subjects

• Authors, American
• Jewish authors
• Screenwriters
• BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious
• Hecht, Ben, 1894-1964
• BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
• United States
• Hecht, Ben, 1893-1964
• Biography
• Authors, American > 21st century > Biography
• Jewish authors > United States > Biography
• 2000-2099
• Screenwriters > United States > Biography
• Biographies
• PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Screenwriting

Genre/Form

• Biographies.
• Biography.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-229) and index.

Contents

Prologue : the man -- The root -- The news -- The world -- The times -- The screen -- The rogues -- The Jews -- The cry -- The flag -- The child -- Epilogue : the end.

Call Number

JFD 19-1908

ISBN

• 9780300180428
• 030018042X

LCCN

2018941583

OCLC

1083340454

Author

Hoffman, Adina, author.

Title

Ben Hecht : fighting words, moving pictures / Adina Hoffman.

Publisher

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Jewish lives

Jewish lives (New Haven, Conn.)

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-229) and index.

Chronological Term

2000-2099

Research Call Number

JFD 19-1908