A lifelong movie buff puts his knowledge and passion on paper to show you the best films of his favorite movie genre, Coming of Age. The author highlights some of the finest acting, the most poignant moments, and the funniest gags in movies about growing up, reflecting each decade of American culture since the beginning of film-making, while illustrating the ageless turbulence and confusion of adolescence.

The weekly source of African American political and entertainment news.

A plentifully illustrated guide to the most popular and socially significant movies made for, by, and about African Americans from 1900 to today. Also includes incisive interviews with Hollywood greats such as Ossie Davis and Ivan Dixon.

An in-depth telling of the Norman Lear's seven-decade career that Publishers Weekly calls a "lovingly detailed portrait" and "a fitting tribute to a consequential figure in television history.” Beginning in the 1970s, writer and producer Norman Lear forever altered the television landscape with such groundbreaking situation comedies as All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time. For over half a century his body of work boldly tackled race, class, sexuality, politics, and religion—topics previously considered too taboo to be the subject of comedy on the small screen. Norman Lear: His Life and Times is the unforgettable story of an extraordinary seven-decade career. Veteran author and entertainment journalist Tripp Whetsell offers an intimate portrait of Lear that is the product of years of research and numerous interviews. Whetsell shows how Lear created the gold standard for television comedies, producing shows that were the first to give underrepresented members of society an authentic prime-time voice, while encouraging audiences to confront their own humanity and shortcomings. In the process, he explores one of television’s most transformative periods, detailing Lear’s legacy as one of its chief architects and catalysts. This affectionate and candid tribute combines show-business history with an illuminating consideration of the inner workings of “the man in the white hat”—a figure who singlehandedly redefined an entire medium by reflecting the world around him.

'All in the Family' quickly did more than become a top-rated, Emmy Award&–winning series that promoted a positive, progressive agenda. This revolutionary show about a reactionary man helped foster an openness in culture. It transformed the very nature of what could be broadcast into our homes, and paved the way for other shows with working-class as well as racially diverse protagonists. During 'All in the Family's nine seasons on CBS, creators Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin used their series as a televised soapbox to masterfully portray the upheavals and concerns racking the United States. Half a century later, its humor and message remain prescient, as it plumbs problems that still vex our families and society, and seeks to understand and explain the very soul of America.

On 4 July, 1910, in 100-degree heat at an outdoor boxing ring near Reno, Nevada, film cameras recorded-and thousands of fans witnessed-former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries' reluctant return from retirement to fight Jack Johnson, a black man. After 14 grueling rounds, Johnson knocked out Jeffries and for the first time in history, there was a black heavyweight champion of the world. At least 10 people lost their lives because of Johnson's victory and hundreds more were injured due to white retaliation and wild celebrations in the streets. Public screenings received instantaneous protests and hundreds of cities barred the film from being shown. Congress even passed a law making it a federal offense to transport moving pictures of prizefights across state lines, and thus the most powerful portrayal of a black man ever recorded on film was made virtually invisible. This is but one of the hundreds of films covered in The A to Z of African American Cinema, which includes everything from The Birth of a Nation to Crash. In addition to the films, brief biographies of African American actors and actresses such as Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx can be found in this reference. Through a chronology, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, black-&-white photos, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on actors, actresses, movies, producers, organizations, awards, film credits, and terminology, this book provides a better understanding of the role African Americans played in film history.

Previous edition: Chicago, Ill.: Lake Claremont Press, 1998, by Arnie Bernstein.