Mcfarland Company Inc Publishers: 2371 books
by Lisa Pertillar Brevard
Language: English
Release Date: January 10, 2013
Language: English
Release Date: January 10, 2013
The name Whoopi Goldberg conjures images of laughter, sex, surprise, versatility, African heritage and Jewish identity, to name a few. How did she become such a major player in Hollywood and the larger world? This book provides an overview of some of Goldberg’s most important efforts on Broadway...
Identity in Professional Wrestling
Essays on Nationality, Race and Gender
Language: English
Release Date: March 4, 2018
Part sport, part performance art, professional wrestling’s appeal crosses national, racial and gender boundaries—in large part by playing to national, racial and gender stereotypes that resonate with audiences. Scholars who study competitive sports tend to dismiss wrestling, with its scripted...
Self-Taught, Outsider and Folk Art
A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources, 3d ed.
Language: English
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Much has changed in the world of self-taught art since the millennium. Many of the recognized “masters” have died and new artists have emerged. Many galleries have closed but few new ones have opened, as artists and dealers increasingly sell through websites and social media. The growth and popularity...
Reading Henry James
A Critical Perspective on Selected Works
Language: English
Release Date: April 27, 2016
Henry James (1843–1916) has been championed as an historian of social conscience and attacked as a spokesman for social privilege. His Americanness has been questioned by nativists and defended by Brahmins. Critics took issue with his lucidly complex style. “It’s not that he bites off more than...
Spaghetti Westerns--the Good, the Bad and the Violent
A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography of 558 Eurowesterns and Their Personnel, 1961-1977
Language: English
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Spaghetti Westerns—mostly produced in Italy or by Italians but made throughout Europe—were bleaker, rougher, grittier imitations of Hollywood Westerns, focusing on heroes only slightly less evil than the villains. After a main filmography covering 558 Spaghetti Westerns, another section provides...
Gwen Verdon
A Life on Stage and Screen
Language: English
Release Date: October 27, 2015
American dancer, singer and actress Gwen Verdon (1925–2000) won four Tony awards for her work on Broadway and also appeared in films and on television. Stricken with rickets as a child, Verdon overcame severe leg deformity through ballet training, making her film debut at 11 as a solo ballerina...
Tonino Valerii
The Films
Language: English
Release Date: August 2, 2016
Tonino Valerii is one of Italy’s best genre film directors. Starting out as Sergio Leone’s assistant on For a Few Dollars More (1965), he went on to direct spaghetti westerns that stand out among the most accomplished in their class—Day of Anger (1967), The Price of Power (1969), A Reason to...
by Roberto Curti
Language: English
Release Date: March 27, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: March 27, 2015
The “Gothic” style was a key trend in Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s because of its peculiar, often strikingly original approach to the horror genre. These films portrayed Gothic staples in a stylish and idiosyncratic way, and took a daring approach to the supernatural and to eroticism,...
Refrigeration
A History
Language: English
Release Date: July 4, 2015
For thousands of years, humans coped with heat by harvesting and storing natural ice and devising natural cooling systems that utilized ventilation and evaporation. By the mid 1800s, people began developing huge refrigeration machines to manufacture ice. By the early 1900s, engineers developed electric...
Soul of the Dark Knight
Batman as Mythic Figure in Comics and Film
Language: English
Release Date: June 4, 2014
This is a book about the comics genre and language, how these were used to create Batman, and how that character’s longevity is largely due to the medium’s unique formal qualities. It argues that Batman’s core appeal is his mythic nature which allows him to transcend changes in reader tastes,...
by Robert Michael “Bobb” Cotter
Language: English
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Language: English
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Doc Savage is the prototype of the modern fictional superhero. The character exploded onto the scene in 1933, with the Great Depression and the gathering clouds of war as a cultural backdrop. The adventure series is examined in relation to historical events and the changing tastes of readers, with...
America Toons In
A History of Television Animation
Language: English
Release Date: March 13, 2014
Animation has been part of television since the start of the medium but it has rarely received unbiased recognition from media scholars. More often, it has been ridiculed for supposedly poor technical quality, accused of trafficking in violence aimed at children, and neglected for indulging in vulgar...
The Ages of the Justice League
Essays on America's Greatest Superheroes in Changing Times
Language: English
Release Date: March 10, 2017
The first superhero team from the Silver Age of comics, DC’s Justice League has seen many iterations since its first appearance in 1960. As the original comic book continued and spin-off titles proliferated, talented writers, artists and editors adapted the team to appeal to changing audience tastes....
by John Kenneth Muir
Language: English
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Language: English
Release Date: October 1, 2014
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a complete guide to over 50 years of superheroes on screen! This expanded and updated edition of the 2004 award-winning encyclopedia covers important developments in the popular genre; adds new shows such as Heroes and Zoom; includes the latest films featuring...