Press Contact: Phillip Brown 910/962-7223 or [email protected]
For Immediate Release
June 13, 2000
OLIVER STONE FILMS EXPLORED IN BOOK EDITED BY UNC WILMINGTON HISTORY PROFESSOR ROBERT TOPLIN
WILMINGTON, NC -- Film director Oliver Stone, known for movies such as Platoon, JFK and Nixon, is often questioned about the historical accuracy of his cinematic interpretations. Stone faces his critics and responds to them in the latest book by Robert Toplin, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Oliver Stone's USA: Film History and Controversy, edited by Toplin, is a series of 15 essays which explore nine Stone films. The book also includes an introduction by Toplin.
"Here, at last, is an opportunity to meet the man behind the movies and hear him defend his motion pictures," said Toplin, a well-known film historian and frequent commentator for the History Channel and C-SPAN. "We must move beyond the simple-minded reactions to cinematic history. We need to examine the man and his films with more dimension, more open-mindedness and more probing."
Contributing writers explored nine Stone films: Salvador, Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers and Nixon. Essayists include Stephen E. Ambrose, an author of numerous books including Nixon and Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938; Walter Lafeber, professor of history at Cornell University; David Halberstam, author of The Best and the Brightest and The Fifties; Le Ly Hayslip, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace; George S. McGovern, former senator from South Dakota and 1972 Democratic Party presidential candidate; and Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., author of A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.
"Through this book, I bring together many of the best historians and journalists who write about recent American history to comment on Stone's films," said Toplin. In addition, a section of the book is devoted to Stone who responds to the essayists.
"Once I assembled the essays, Stone agreed to read and provide commentary. I thought he would offer a few minutes or hours of commentary. Instead, he talked with me for more than 20 hours, and he followed up with more time as we revised the material," said Toplin. "This is more than an anthology of new essays. It is a unique project involving a dialogue between a noted filmmaker and his critics and supporters."
Oliver Stone's USA: Film History and Controversy was published by the University Press of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. Toplin, in addition to serving as professor of history at UNC Wilmington, is the author of nine books including History by Hollywood: The Use and Abuse of the American Past and Ken Burns' The Civil War: Historians Respond. He is also editor of film reviews for the Journal of American History and editor for media with Perspectives, the publication of the American Historical Association.
Located between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington is committed to becoming the best undergraduate teaching university in the South. An internationally recognized undergraduate marine biology program, coupled with a new facility for its Center for Marine Science, has put UNCW at the forefront of research to learn how the world's oceans affect human health and quality of life. In addition, the university has a critically acclaimed Creative Writing Department that attracts Pulitzer Prize-winning visiting writers and a growing Film Studies Program that works closely with Wilmington-based EUE Screen Gems Studios and other productions filmed locally, such as Dawson's Creek which uses the university's campus as a primary filming location.
Media interested in obtaining a review copy of Oliver Stone's USA: Film History and Controversy should contact Jessica M. Pigza, publicity manager for University Press of Kansas, at 785/864-4155.
###
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Dr. Toplin by e-mail at [email protected].
RSS