Overview
- Looks at how William Wyler, Sidney Lumet, and Steven Spielberg advance a tradition and history dating from the late 19th century to the present day Jewish writers and thinkers who assume a responsibility for articulating the American Idea for a changing culture and history
- Analyzes and discusses the relationship of the films and directors to the “New Covenant” history of Jewish thinkers, writers, artists, and leaders who express the American Idea and Creed in the ethical and moral terms of the jeremiad
- Responds to issues that are dominant in current political, historical, and cultural discourse
- Takes a fresh approach to contemporary issues and crises in America and in the Jewish experience
Part of the book series: Renewing the American Narrative (RAN)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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William Wyler’s America
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Front Matter
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Sidney Lumet: Conscience and Democracy
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Front Matter
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Steven Spielberg: Reform, Redemption, and Films of American Renewal
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
From generation to generation, three outstanding American Jewish directors—William Wyler, Sidney Lumet, and Steven Spielberg--advance a tradition of Jewish writers, artists, and leaders who propagate the ethical basis of the American Idea and Creed. They strive to renew the American spirit by insisting that America must live up to its values and ideals. These directors accentuate the ethical responsibility for the other as a basis of the American soul and a source for strengthening American liberal democracy. In the manner of the jeremiad, their films challenge America to achieve a liberal democratic culture for all people by becoming more inclusive and by modernizing the American Idea. Following an introduction that relates aspects of modern ethical thought to the search for America’s soul, the book divides into three sections. The Wyler section focuses on the director’s social vision of a changing America. The Lumet section views his films as dramatizing Lumet’s dynamicand aggressive social and ethical conscience. The Spielberg section tracks his films as a movement toward American redemption and renewal that aspires to realize Lincoln’s vision of America as the hope of the world. The directors, among many others, perpetuate a “New Covenant” that advocates change and renewal in the American experience.
Reviews
—John Belton, author of American Cinema/American Culture (1994)
“Appearing at the moment of America’s post-pandemic recovery and its continuing struggles with deeply-rooted economic and racial disparities, Girgus’s book aptly explores the decades-long challenges have “renewal” in “America” has posed for three of Hollywood’s most prominent Jewish filmmakers.
—Cynthia Lucia, Professor of Film and Television, Rider University, USA
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Sam B. Girgus is a retired professor of English and American Studies who has taught at the Universities of New Mexico, Alabama, Oregon, and Vanderbilt University. A recipient of a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship, he has written and published more than ten books on film, modernism, and American literature, thought, and culture.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Generations of Jewish Directors and the Struggle for America’s Soul
Book Subtitle: Wyler, Lumet, and Spielberg
Authors: Sam B. Girgus
Series Title: Renewing the American Narrative
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76031-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-76030-4Published: 12 August 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-76033-5Published: 13 August 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-76031-1Published: 11 August 2021
Series ISSN: 2524-8332
Series E-ISSN: 2524-8340
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 270
Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations
Topics: American Cinema and TV, American Culture, Judaism, Film History, Film/TV Industry