Read complete books and articles on: The Birth of a Nation

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10 of the Best Books and Articles on: The Birth of a Nation

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique (Chap. 1 "The Beginnings of Narrative Film: D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation") » Read Now
by Marilyn Fabe. 279 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

"In "Closely Watched Films revered Film teacher Marilyn Fabe brings to life on the page the many lessons proffered in her legendary courses at U.C. Berkeley, in which she has taught successive generations of film students the art, and the magic, of film."--Linda Williams, Director of Film Studies...
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"In "Closely Watched Films revered Film teacher Marilyn Fabe brings to life on the page the many lessons proffered in her legendary courses at U.C. Berkeley, in which she has taught successive generations of film students the art, and the magic, of film."--Linda Williams, Director of Film Studies, University of California, Berkeley
"I am deeply impressed by this book, and in awe of its scope. It imparts its wisdom about film with such seeming effortlessness, illuminating the ways that films work. "Closely Watched Films is very lucidly and smoothly crafted, and Fabe writes with astonishing ease about a group of very complex and heterogeneous films. It is a extremely informed book and an extraordinary achievement."--Madelon Sprengnether, University of Minnesota, author of "Crying at the Movies
"Fills a real need, educating the literate moviegoer into an awareness of how film works. Writing in a clear prose that is nevertheless based on a complex awareness of film history, criticism, and technique, Fabe takes us through the diverse film strategies of exemplary classic directors who have significantly shaped the history of film and made it into a potent cultural force. At the same time, she provocatively elaborates the political and aesthetic concerns of a number of contemporary films to indicate the new directions in today's motion pictures."--Claire Kahane, SUNY-Buffalo, author of "Passions of the Voice: Hysteria, Narrative, and the Figure of the speaking Woman, 1850-1915
"This text fills a real niche--the scholarship is superior, and Fabe approaches her material in an original and stimulating manner. The writing is fluid and down to earth, yet also addresses relevant issues."--TimShively, De Anza College
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2.

From Sambo to Superspade: The Black Experience in Motion Pictures (Chap. 2 "The Birth of a Nation") » Read Now
by Daniel J. Leab. 308 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
3.

A History of Narrative Film (Chap. 3 "D. W. Griffith and the Development of Narrative Form") » Read Now
by David A. Cook. 1087 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
4.

The Black Studies Reader (Chap. 17 "In the Year 1915: D. W. Griffith and the Whitening of America") » Read Now
by Jacqueline Bobo, Cynthia Hudley, Claudine Michel. 488 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

A long overdue look at the central role Black studies has played within academic life and cultureExplains how, as a truly transdisciplinary field, Black studies brought non-white Barbies, the pragmatics of political activism and profound educational initiatives into the classroom
5.

Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture ("The Birth of a Nation's Movie Industry" begins on p. 57) » Read Now
by Susan Gubar. 327 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

When the actor Ted Danson appeared in blackface at a 1993 Friars Club roast, he ignited a firestorm of protest that landed him on the front pages of the newspapers, rebuked by everyone from talk show host Montel Williams to New York City's then mayor, David Dinkins. Danson's use of blackface was...
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When the actor Ted Danson appeared in blackface at a 1993 Friars Club roast, he ignited a firestorm of protest that landed him on the front pages of the newspapers, rebuked by everyone from talk show host Montel Williams to New York City's then mayor, David Dinkins. Danson's use of blackface was shocking, but was the furious pitch of the response a triumphant indication of how far society has progressed since the days when blackface performers were the toast of vaudeville, or was it also an uncomfortable reminder of how deep the chasm still is separating black and white America? In Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture, Susan Gubar, who fundamentally changed the way we think about women's literature as co-author of the acclaimed The Madwoman in the Attic, turns her attention to the incendiary issue of race. Through a far-reaching exploration of the long overlooked legacy of minstrelsy--cross-racial impersonations or "racechanges"--throughout modern American film, fiction, poetry, painting, photography, and journalism, she documents the indebtedness of "mainstream" artists to African-American culture, and explores the deeply conflicted psychology of white guilt. The fascinating "racechanges" Gubar discusses include whites posing as blacks and blacks "passing" for white; blackface on white actors in The Jazz Singer, Birth of a Nation, and other movies, as well as on the faces of black stage entertainers; African-American deployment of racechange imagery during the Harlem Renaissance, including the poetry of Anne Spencer, the black-and-white prints of Richard Bruce Nugent, and the early work of Zora Neale Hurston; white poets and novelists from Vachel Lindsay and Gertrude Stein to John Berryman and William Faulkner writing as if they were black; white artists and writers fascinated by hypersexualized stereotypes of black men; and nightmares and visions of the racechanged baby. Gubar shows that unlike African-Americans, who often are forced to adopt white masks to gain their rights, white people have chosen racial masquerades, which range from mockery and mimicry to an evolving emphasis on inter-racial mutuality and mutability. Drawing on a stunning array of illustrations, including paintings, film stills, computer graphics, and even magazine morphings, Racechanges sheds new light on the persistent pervasiveness of racism and exciting aesthetic possibilities for lessening the distance between blacks and whites.
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6.

Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture (Chap. 2 "The Birth of 1 (Racist) Notion(al) Cinema") » Read Now
by Vincent F. Rocchio. 235 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
7.

Legacies of Lynching: Racial Violence and Memory ("From The Birth of a Nation to The Birth of a Race and Beyond: "Race Films and Countermemory" begins on p. 36) » Read Now
by Jonathan Markovitz. 229 pgs.

Collections: History, Psychology, Entire Library
8.

Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema (Discussion of The Birth of a Nation begins on p. 41) » Read Now
by Christopher P. Jacobs, Donald W. McCaffrey. 343 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

The latest offering from the Reference Guides to the World's Cinema series, this critical survey of key films, actors, directors, and screenwriters during the silent era of the American cinema offers a wide-ranging portrait of the motion picture production of silent film. Detailed but concise...
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The latest offering from the Reference Guides to the World's Cinema series, this critical survey of key films, actors, directors, and screenwriters during the silent era of the American cinema offers a wide-ranging portrait of the motion picture production of silent film. Detailed but concise alphabetical entries include over 100 film titles and 150 personnel. An introductory chapter explores the early growth of the new silent medium while the final chapter of this encyclopedic study examines the sophistication of the silent cinema. These two chapters outline film history from its beginnings until the perfection of synchronized sound, and reflect upon the themes and techniques established with the silent cinema that continued into the sound era through modern times.
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9.

Music and the Silent Film: Contexts and Case Studies, 1895-1924 (Chap. Four "Breil's Score for The Birth of a Nation") » Read Now
by Martin Miller Marks. 303 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

In this book, a leading authority on film music examines scores of the silent film era. The first of three projected volumes investigating music written for films, this thoughtful and pathbreaking study demonstrates the richness of silent film music as it details the way in which scores were often...
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In this book, a leading authority on film music examines scores of the silent film era. The first of three projected volumes investigating music written for films, this thoughtful and pathbreaking study demonstrates the richness of silent film music as it details the way in which scores were often planned from the start as an integral part of the whole cinematic experience. Following an introductory chapter that outlines several key theoretical questions and surveys eight decades of writing on film music, Martin Miller Marks focuses on those scores created between 1895 and 1924. He begins by considering two early examples, one German (written by persons unknown for Skladanowsky's Bioskop exhibitions in 1895 and 1896) and one French (scored by Camille Saint-Saens for the 1908 film L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise). Subsequent chapters fully discuss Walter Cleveland Simon's music for the American film An Arabian Tragedy (1912) as well as the Joseph Breil accompaniment to D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915). As described in this book, Breil's memorable score--though a compilation derived from many sources--was played by an orchestra as Griffith's sweeping images filled the screen, thus contributing significantly to the great film's success while also achieving remarkable power in its own right. Marks then concludes with a look at Erik Satie's witty and innovative music for the French film Entr'acte (1924), which was the first film score of consequence by an avant-garde composer. Giving unprecedented attention to a vibrant, important, and oft-neglected facet of twentieth-century music, Music and the Silent Film will interest scholars of film theory, film history, modern music, and modern aesthetics.
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10.

Lightning, Camera, Action: As the Birth of a Nation Turns 90, Its Racism Is out of Bounds, but Its More Enduring Impact Can Be Seen Just by Turning on the Television, in The American Prospect » Read Now
by J. Hoberman. 2 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library