© Columbia University Press
Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration
Paper, 440 pages, 60 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14359-2
$22.50
/ £15.50
November, 2007
Cloth, 440 pages, 60 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14358-5
$29.50
/ £20.50
"Doherty writes with such wit and verve, bringing the past to life... a very entertaining read." — Publishers Weekly
"Compelling, colorful, insightful, and nearly encyclopedic in detail, this book seems destined to become the definitive scholarly biography of Breen. Highly recommended." — Library Journal
"[An] entertaining and rigorous biography of Breen." — Ada Calhoun, New York Times Book Review
"A fascinating read for anyone interested in American film history." — Carol O'Sullivan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"[An] authoritative, entertaining, unexpectedly unnerving biography." — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"[A] brilliant and absorbing new book." — Gerald Peary, The Phoenix
"Hollywood's Censor is a stinging portrait of a cultural strongman who made it his business to baby his fellow citizens." — Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post
"Written with controlled exuberance, and much wit." — Scott Eyman, Palm Beach Post
"A pleasure to read." — Rob Hardy, Commercial Dispatch
"An exemplary biography . . . Highly recommended." — CHOICE
"Thomas Doherty uncovers wonderful details in his research, and he presents them with aplomb. He writes a good book on an important figure in American film history about whom too little is known. This is a valuable contribution." — Chuck Maland, Lindsay Young Professor of English, University of Tennessee
"Joseph I. Breen's life story has never been told in such detail before and, although much has been written about the Production Code Administration, no one has brought together the stories of Breen and the Code—which is also a story of Catholicism and its influence on popular American culture—in the manner Thomas Doherty has. Doherty convincingly demonstrates that, in a crucial sense, Breen was the Production Code." — Michael Anderegg, author of Orson Welles, Shakespeare, and Popular Culture and Cinematic Shakespeare