Peter C. Rollins

Selected Bibliography

America Reflected: Language, Satire, Film and the National Mind (2010)

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This book to be avaliable in two versions: Hard Cover and Kindle

America Reflected offers an ecclectic examination of the “American Mind” from the ante-bellum era to the present. The linguistic theories of Benjamin Lee Whorf are linked to the 20th century’s crisis of faith. Will Rogers interjects his satire of American politics and mores. Some chapters respond to basic questions: What do America’s war films tell about the eras in which they are produced? How should they be read as reflections of the national mind? How do such major cultural figures such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Amy Lowell, John James Audubon, and Frederick Henry Hedge contribute to our understanding of identity formation in America? How do these various spokesmen and cultural artifacts reflect the American spirit?

Winner of the John Culkin Award of the Media Ecology Association

Whorf Legacy Review

The Benjamin Lee Whorf Legacy adds a new dimension to our understanding of the businessman/linguist associated with ‘‘the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.’’... I would urge every major university teaching linguistics, ESL, and anthropology to acquire this important scholar resource.—Ray B. Browne, Ray & Pat Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University

Why We Fought: America's Wars in
..... Film and History (2008)

History Book Club selection - May, 2009

Winner of the Ray and Pat Browne Award of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association, 2009

from kentuckypress.com:
This book makes a powerful case that film can be as valuable a tool as primary documents for improving our understanding of the causes and consequences of war. Why We Fought: America's Wars in Film and History is a comprehensive look at war films, from depictions of the American Revolution to portrayals of September 11 and its aftermath. The volume contrasts recognized history and historical fiction with the versions appearing on the big screen. The text considers a selection of the most pivotal war films of all time, including All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Why We Fought reveals how film depictions of the country's wars have shaped our values, politics, and culture, and it offers a unique understanding of American history.

Hollywood's West: The American Frontier in
..... Film, Television, and History (2005)
Ray and Pat Browne Award

from kentuckypress.com:
Hollywood's West examines popular perceptions of the frontier as a defining feature of American identity and history. Seventeen essays by prominent film scholars illuminate the allure of life on the edge of civilization and analyze how this region has been represented on big and small screens. Differing characterizations of the frontier in modern popular culture reveal numerous truths about American consciousness and provide insights into many classic Western films and television programs, from RKO's 1931 classic Cimarron to Turner Network Television's recent made-for-TV movies.

Covering topics such as the portrayal of race, women, myth, and nostalgia, Hollywood's West makes a significant contribution to the understanding of how Westerns have shaped our nation's opinions and beliefs--often using the frontier as metaphor for contemporary issues.

The Columbia UP Companion to American
..... History on Film (2004).
Ray and Pat Browne Award
2005 Finalist, Theatre Library Assoc. Richard Wall Award

from cup.columbia.edu:
American history has always been an irresistible source of inspiration for filmmakers, and today, for good or ill, most Americans'sense of the past likely comes more from Hollywood than from the works of historians. In important films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Roots (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), how much is entertainment and how much is rooted in historical fact? In The Columbia Companion to American History on Film, more than seventy scholars consider the gap between history and Hollywood. They examine how filmmakers have presented and interpreted the most important events, topics, eras, and figures in the American past, often comparing the film versions of events with the interpretations of the best historians who have explored the topic.

The West Wing: The American Presidency
..... as Television Drama (2003).

from syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu:
Eminent scholars Peter C. Rollins and John O'Connor make an important contribution to the field with an eclectic mix of essays, which translate visual language into on-screen politics. While the series may be criticized as "idealistic," its clever techniques of camera work, lighting, editing, and mise en scene reflect America's best image of itself, and entertains a loyal audience that desperately wants to believe in the nobility of the American dream. This collection introduces readers to the sensibilities to appreciate the show's nuances and the necessary knowledge to avoid any misreadings. It will be of interest to students of politics, popular culture, fans and critics alike.

Hollywood's White House: The American Presidency in
..... Film and History (2003).
Ray and Pat Browne Award

from kentuckypress.com:
The contributors to Hollywood’s White House examine the historical accuracy of these presidential depictions, illuminate their influence, and uncover how they reflect the concerns of their times and the social and political visions of the filmmakers. The volume, which includes a comprehensive filmography and a bibliography, is ideal for historians and film enthusiasts.

Hollywood's Indian: The Native American in Film
.....(2nd ed. 2003).

from kentuckypress.com:
Offering both in-depth analyses of specific films and overviews of the industry's output, Hollywood's Indian provides insightful characterizations of the depiction of the Native Americans in film. This updated edition includes a new chapter on Smoke Signals, the groundbreaking independent film written by Sherman Alexie and directed by Chris Eyre. Taken as a whole the essays explore the many ways in which these portrayals have made an impact on our collective cultural life.

Television Histories: Shaping Collective Memory
..... in the Media Age (2001).
Awarded Best Book in American Culture Studies

from kentuckypress.com:
The contributors examine the full spectrum of historical genres, but also institutions such as the History Channel and production histories of such series as The Jack Benny Show, which ran for fifteen years. The authors explore the tensions between popular history and professional history, and the tendency of some academics to declare the past “off limits” to nonscholars. Several of them point to the tendency for television histories to embed current concerns and priorities within the past, as in such popular shows as Quantum Leap and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. The result is an insightful portrayal of the power television possesses to influence our culture.

Hollywood as Historian: American Film
..... in a Cultural Context (2nd ed 1998).

from Amazon.com:
The essays compiled in Hollywood as Historian all seek to explore this burgeoning relationship further, weighing in on the various ways films have distorted history, revised history, provoked social change, and have been affected by the political and social climate in which they were produced. For example, the examination into D.W. Griffith's landmark film Birth of a Nation reveals not only a narrative of structural ingenuity, but a prime example of how the celluloid depiction of a fictional society--in this case a Southern culture replete with racist overtones--can effectively alter the public perception of history.

Bowling Green State University Popular Press

Hollywood's World War I: Motion Picture Images
..... (1998).

from Amazon.com:
Hollywood's World War I. This war may have been the most important event of the early 20th century: it shelled the Victorian synthesis and decimated a lost generation.

At first, the motion picture industry avoided the conflict but then discovered that both ground warriors and aviators fascinated the public in an era when motion picture attendance was on the rise. The first wave of films including The Big Parade (1925) and What Price Glory? (1926) focused on the epic grandeur of the struggle, finding nobility even in the suffering. The screen interpretation shifted soon after, as All Quiet on the Western Front and Hell's Angels (1930) stressed agony and futility. Yet when another war became imminent in the late 1930s, Hollywood responded with productions that praised service in arms-The Fighting 69th (1940) and Sergeant York (1941). Hollywood, the BBC and PBS stay close to the topic, as indicated by the eight-part series titled The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, broadcast during the fall of 1996.

In this study of feature films and documentaries, Hollywood's World War I traces America's changing views over five decades, as filmmakers have focused on a crisis that still reverberates in our civic and spiritual lives.

Articles

"Will Rogers: Symbolic Man and Film Image" 20th Century Literary Criticism 71.