The Undeclared War: David Puttnam

An entertaining account of the way in which Hollywood has achieved almost total sovereignty over the world's movies. British producer David Puttnam, the only European to have run a modern Hollywood studio, provides the first comprehensive account of the struggle for sovereignty over the twentieth century's most popular and influential medium of mass culture. It is the inside battle which began with the invention of cinema and which has raged ever since, a conflict which has pitted Hollywood moguls like Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner against politicians, tycoons and cultural elites the world over, laying bare the way in which the moguls used their energy and ambition to market the stars and stories, and how generations of Europeans from the Lumière brothers to Fellini tried to create a cinema capable of withstanding Hollywood’s assault. He includes how U.S. presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Clinton went to war on one of America’s most powerful, profitable and influential industries. As a result, Hollywood became the advance herald of the empire, its global dominance the most potent and visible symbol of the Americanisation of the world. Puttnam demonstrates what we have gained. What we have lost and what we still stand to lose in the battle for control of this extraordinary medium.  Illustrated with black and white photographs.`