Hollywood Left and Right

In Hollywood Left and Right, Steven J. Ross tells an important story that has escaped public attention: the emergence of Hollywood as a vital center of political life and the important role that movie stars have played in shaping the course of American politics. Ever since the film industry relocated to Hollywood early in the twentieth century, it has had an outsized influence on American politics. Through compelling larger-than-life figures in American cinema - Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Edward G. Robinson, George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Harry Belafonte, Jane Fonda, Charlton Heston, Warren Beatty, and Arnold Schwarzenegger - Hollywood Left and Right reveals how Hollywood's engagement in politics has been longer, deeper, and more varied than most people would imagine. As shown in alternating chapters, the Left and the Right each gained ascendancy in Tinseltown at different times. From Chaplin, whose movies almost always displayed his leftist convictions, to Schwarzenegger's nearly seamless transition from action blockbusters to the California governor's mansion, Ross traces the intersection of Hollywood and political activism from the early twentieth century to the present. Hollywood Left and Right challenges the commonly held belief that Hollywood has always been a bastion of liberalism. The real story, as Ross shows in this passionate and entertaining work, is far more complicated. First, Hollywood has a longer history of conservatism than liberalism. Second, and most surprising, while the Hollywood Left was usually more vocal and visible, the Right had a greater impact on American political life, capturing a senate seat (Murphy), a governorship (Schwarzenegger), and the ultimate achievement, the Presidency (Reagan).
"[Ross] corrects the misconception that Hollywood is a beehive of liberalism and parses the divide between idealistic, telegenic charisma and the grit of partisan maneuvering. "
--New York Times Book Review, "Recommended Summer Reading"

"Meticulously researched and well-plotted" -Ted Johnson, Variety

"Hollywood Left and Right is nonfiction at its best: entertaining and engaging, probing and provocative, detailed and comprehensive in coverage, multifaceted and far-ranging in its treatment, objective and balanced, appropriately paced in covering a complex, big story."
-Stephen Roulac, New York Journal of Books

"Steven J. Ross convincingly shows in Hollywood Left and Right that since its early days, the movie industry has been as quietly conservative as publicly liberal."
-Carolyn Kellogg, The Los Angeles Times

"Ross...provides concise case studies of movie-industry influence, from the silent film era to the present." --The New York Times Book Review

"[F]ascinating...a compelling survey of politics and celebrity." -Rowan Kaiser, A.V. Club

"Ross does a lot of things well. Each of his chapters offer skillfully limned portraits (Murphy and Reagan, whose careers coincided and interests overlapped, are treated as a pair)... Ross is also a deft analyst. He weaves in close readings of particular films, contextualizing them in their immediate sociopolitical environments." -Jim Cullen, History News Network

"As Steven J. Ross reminds us in Hollywood Left and Right, an entertaining history of the nexus between celebrity and politics, Hollywood intervention in politics is as old as the silents... Ross does a creditable job of providing the historical frame for today's political Hollywood. Writing in clear, workmanlike prose, he offers engrossing profiles of each of his subjects. At its best - the heartbreaking chapter on Robinson, the juicier passages on Beatty - the book can be downright revelatory. IndeedINTRODUCTION: MOVIE STARS AND POLITICS ; 1. THE FIRST POLITICAL MOVIE STAR: CHARLIE CHAPLIN ; 2. THE MAN WHO BROUGHT HOLLYWOOD INTO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: LOUIS B. MAYER ; 3. LITTLE CAESAR AND THE HUAC MOB: EDWARD G. ROBINSON ; 4. HOLLYWOOD AND THE CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION: GEORGE MURPHY AND RONALD REAGAN ; 5. POLITICS IN BLACK AND WHITE: HARRY BELAFONTE ; 6. MOVEMENT LEADER, GRASSROOTS BUILDER: JANE FONDA ; 7. MOSES AND THE RED TIDE: CHARLTON HESTON ; 8. PRESIDENT BULWORTH, OR, WILL MR. BEATTY GO TO WASHINGTON? WARREN BEATTY ; 9. GOVERNOR ARNOLD AND THE NEW AGE OF CELEBRITY POLITICS: ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER