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Product Description
Review
"Black wears his erudition lightly in demonstrating that the 007 saga is more than melodrama produced for profit. James Bond's durability and renewability as a pop-cultural icon owes much to the successful adaptation of his circumstances and his behavior to both the changing climate of international relations and the changing mores of Britain and the United States."-Dennis Showalter Professor of History Colorado College
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
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Product Description
The adventures and antics of James Bond have provided the world with many of the most gripping story lines of the last half-century. Fleming's novels were bestsellers in their day, and the Bond films have been even more popular, becoming the most enduring and successful film franchise in history. By some estimates, half of the world's population has seen a James Bond movie. A fascinating and accessible account of this global phenomenon, "The Politics of James Bond" uses the plots and characterizations in the novels and the blockbuster films to place Bond in a historical, cultural, and political context.Jeremy Black charts and explores how the settings and the dynamics of the Bond adventures have changed over time in response to shifts in the real-world environment in which the fictional Bond operates. Sex, race, class, and violence are each important factors, as Agent 007 evolves from Cold War warrior to foe of Spectre and eventually to world defender pitted against megalomaniacal foes. The development of Bond, his leading ladies, and the major plots all shed light on world political attitudes and reflect elements of the real espionage history of the period. This analysis of Bond's world and his lasting legacy offers an insightful look at both cultural history and popular entertainment. Jeremy Black is a professor of history at the University of Exeter. His books include "Maps and Politics", "War for America: The Fight for Independence 1775-1783", and "War and the World: Military Power and the Fate of the Continents, 1450-2000".
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First Sentence
Bond was not a free spirit or an independent force. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Bond was not a free spirit or an independent force. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jeremy Black is clearly an accomplished author on a variety of historical subjects, and he has taken a detour into a subject far removed from many of those that he normally deals with. The Politics of Bond is an excellent introduction into many of the key themes featrured in the Bond films. Bond is often regarded as a cliche in cinema and is often treated far too lightly, despite the fact that the films are amongst the most political of films and the most historically significant in the way that they have dealt with historical circumstances. Jeremy Black is the first author to attempt and succeed in assessing the issues surrounding gender in the Bond films, and his insight is highly informative and interesting. There are many good points within this book, specifically regarding that of gender, and there are many interesting insights given into the original literary sources and the world of Bond in general. There are, however, deficiencies in this book, mainly due to lengthy plot relation, a limited bibliography and discussion of the genre as a whole. Also, the actor-led structure of the book hides some of Jeremy Black's excellent arguments on various themes, particularly concerning British decline as a world power. Setting these criticisms aside, anyone wanting to gain a true insight into a growing field of academic and historical interest should certainly buy and read this book.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a real must for all true James Bond fans. It is well written and researched by Black, and goes into the key points of how Bond has matured in his years on film to adjust to the changing world political climate.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
needed an editor and a fact-checker!
13 July 2003
Format:Hardcover
Basically I liked this book, as it does a good job of laying out the political climates of the various times and places in the James Bond novels-not only those by Fleming, but also the many other sequels by Amis, Gardner, et al.-and short stories, as well as all the films up to the third Pierce Brosnan one. I have read all the Fleming stories at least twice each, and will probably do so all over again now that I will be able to keep Jeremy Black's input on the politics surrounding the plots in mind.
However, I am still reeling by the frequency of errors in the book, including wrong names-e.g., he mistakenly calls [Pierce] Brosnan "Bronson" (unless of course I missed a James Bond movie that starred Charles Bronson... I don't think so!)-and he renames the character Tatiana Romanova from the novel and film From Russia, with Love "Natalya"; and heaps of grammatical errors.
This book needed an editor and a fact-checker before it went to print. I sincerely hope the publisher has one of each overhaul this book before it issues the paperback edition!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Pointyhead Primer To 007
22 April 2005
Format:Hardcover
Did you ever wonder whether the world of James Bond was more Manichean or Weberian in its outlook? Did it ever bother you that 007 represents a sort of dying totem for the imperialistic, chauvinistic British empire? Do you look at one of Q's gadgets and ponder the limits of technology, or see Barbara Bach in a silken nightie and wonder about the gender politics of the Bond corpus?
If so, Jeremy Black has written the book for you. "The Politics of James Bond" takes on the political as well as social constructs underlying both the original novels by Ian Fleming, as well as the subsequent films. Given the enormous impact of Bond on world culture for half a century, this seems a worthy enterprise. Black certainly knows his Bond, able to deftly move from plot point to plot point in particular stories and explain what was going on at that moment in the Grand Scheme of Things, either a Cuban missile crisis or a spy ring scandal or the advent of the Pill, to draw appropriate connections.
Black is especially on target, and amusing, when he notes the various ways Bond has been modernized over the years, as when the films, with Timothy Dalton by then playing Bond, took on a Jesuitical strain:
"It was acceptable to have an agent who blew up and shot people at will (and without the concerns of Fleming's Bond), but he was no longer allowed to smoke or have sex, a contrast that reveals much about the nature and impact of modern political correctness."
He takes a similar critical approach to Fleming's novels. It's clear Black admires Fleming's writing, and though he echoes the criticisms of Fleming's Old World snobbery, he is also careful not to attach modern sensibilities to Fleming's often-badly-dated views of racial and sexual differences. He calls attention to Fleming's "racialism" rather than "racism," and it's an important distinction, that Fleming could be patronizing about blacks, for example, and yet more willing than many of his time to see beyond stereotypes; certainly not be ruled by them.
For all his cross-indexing and learned discourse, I never got a sense of whether Black thought Bond was any good for society, whether his value extends beyond box-office proceeds. Also, he takes a second-hand approach to explaining the Bond stories, assuming everyone has the same familiarity he does with every novel and film. While he starts pulling out recondite quotes from "Octopussy" to glean insight in male-female relations, I'm trying to remember if that's the one where 007 tells the tiger to sit.
While the book is advertised as "How James Bond has changed the world - and how the world has changed James Bond," it's really more about the latter than the former. Maybe the premise of the book is off, maybe he didn't spend enough time working out the merits of the individual stories over their cultural impact. Does anyone care about what the film version of "The Man With The Golden Gun" has to say about the energy crisis anymore?
Black has written a smart book and done his homework. But he doesn't have much of a story to tell, and it shows.
If so, Jeremy Black has written the book for you. "The Politics of James Bond" takes on the political as well as social constructs underlying both the original novels by Ian Fleming, as well as the subsequent films. Given the enormous impact of Bond on world culture for half a century, this seems a worthy enterprise. Black certainly knows his Bond, able to deftly move from plot point to plot point in particular stories and explain what was going on at that moment in the Grand Scheme of Things, either a Cuban missile crisis or a spy ring scandal or the advent of the Pill, to draw appropriate connections.
Black is especially on target, and amusing, when he notes the various ways Bond has been modernized over the years, as when the films, with Timothy Dalton by then playing Bond, took on a Jesuitical strain:
"It was acceptable to have an agent who blew up and shot people at will (and without the concerns of Fleming's Bond), but he was no longer allowed to smoke or have sex, a contrast that reveals much about the nature and impact of modern political correctness."
He takes a similar critical approach to Fleming's novels. It's clear Black admires Fleming's writing, and though he echoes the criticisms of Fleming's Old World snobbery, he is also careful not to attach modern sensibilities to Fleming's often-badly-dated views of racial and sexual differences. He calls attention to Fleming's "racialism" rather than "racism," and it's an important distinction, that Fleming could be patronizing about blacks, for example, and yet more willing than many of his time to see beyond stereotypes; certainly not be ruled by them.
For all his cross-indexing and learned discourse, I never got a sense of whether Black thought Bond was any good for society, whether his value extends beyond box-office proceeds. Also, he takes a second-hand approach to explaining the Bond stories, assuming everyone has the same familiarity he does with every novel and film. While he starts pulling out recondite quotes from "Octopussy" to glean insight in male-female relations, I'm trying to remember if that's the one where 007 tells the tiger to sit.
While the book is advertised as "How James Bond has changed the world - and how the world has changed James Bond," it's really more about the latter than the former. Maybe the premise of the book is off, maybe he didn't spend enough time working out the merits of the individual stories over their cultural impact. Does anyone care about what the film version of "The Man With The Golden Gun" has to say about the energy crisis anymore?
Black has written a smart book and done his homework. But he doesn't have much of a story to tell, and it shows.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
The Politics Of James Bond
2 Nov 2001
Format:Hardcover
This was a very interesting book. I liked it a lot. The word "politics" might tend to steer some readers(especialy younger ones) away from this, but don't let that word scare you. A very good book, lots of information. A recomended read from a serious(sometimes refered to as "purist") Bond fan
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