- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc; illustrated edition edition (25 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195119355
- ISBN-13: 978-0195119350
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.5 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,596,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
While America Watches : Televising the Holocaust
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Product Description
Product Description
The Holocaust holds a unique place in American public culture, and, as Jeffrey Shandler argues in this text, it is television, more than any other medium, that has brought the Holocaust into our homes, our hearts, and our minds. Much has been written about Holocaust film and literature, and yet the medium that brings the subject to most people - television - has been largely neglected. Now Shandler provides an account of how television has familiarized the American people with the Holocaust. He starts with wartime newsreels of liberated concentration camps, showing how they set the moral tone for viewing scenes of genocide, and then moves to television to explain how the Holocaust and the Holocaust survivor have gained stature as moral symbols in American culture. From early teleplays to coverage of the Eichmann trial and the Holocaust mini-series, as well as documentaries, popular series such as "All in the Family" and "Star Trek", and news reports of interethnic violence in Bosnia, Shandler offers a tour of television history.
About the Author
Jeffrey Shandler is currently a Dorot Teaching Fellow in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. He lives in New York City.
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First Sentence
Holocaust remembrance is a dynamic phenomenon, shaped by the unfolding relationship between the rememberers and the object of recall. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Holocaust remembrance is a dynamic phenomenon, shaped by the unfolding relationship between the rememberers and the object of recall. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but incomplete,
By A Customer
This review is from: While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust (Hardcover)
I imagine this is the first book of its kind, to examine the role television has had in "popularizing" the idea of the Holocaust as a specific, historical entity. As such, much of it is groundbreaking. His chapter on the Sunday morning ecumenical religious programming of the 50's and 60's is especially interesting--I remember those shows from my childhood and his plot summaries make me realize that most of those programs, though done on limited budgets, were vastly more thought-provoking and innovative than most present-day programming. The book remains provocative as the author discusses documentaries, dramatic series shows, the Eichmann trial, and the miniseries Holocaust. He keeps the issue of "Holocaust memory culture" and questions of who "owns" the Holocaust front and center. However, when he comes to the 80's and 90's, he strays far afield from his original intent, discussing issues such as Reagan's visit to Bitburg and the recent ethnic cleansing in Bosnia with only tangential ties to the central focus of television. The final section, on Holocaust museums, is interesting but again isn't made to seem terribly relevant to his original thesis. Despite what the Kirkus reviewer said, I think his style is quite good; a nice balance between academic and popular. The book is a fast and fairly easy read, but I found the last third to be disappointing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but incomplete,
By M. Ritchie - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust (Hardcover)
I imagine this is the first book of its kind, to examine the role television has had in "popularizing" the idea of the Holocaust as a specific, historical entity. As such, much of it is groundbreaking. His chapter on the Sunday morning ecumenical religious programming of the 50's and 60's is especially interesting--I remember those shows from my childhood and his plot summaries make me realize that most of those programs, though done on limited budgets, were vastly more thought-provoking and innovative than most present-day programming. The book remains provocative as the author discusses documentaries, dramatic series shows, the Eichmann trial, and the miniseries Holocaust. He keeps the issue of "Holocaust memory culture" and questions of who "owns" the Holocaust front and center. However, when he comes to the 80's and 90's, he strays far afield from his original intent, discussing issues such as Reagan's visit to Bitburg and the recent ethnic cleansing in Bosnia with only tangential ties to the central focus of television. The final section, on Holocaust museums, is interesting but again isn't made to seem terribly relevant to his original thesis. Despite what the Kirkus reviewer said, I think his style is quite good; a nice balance between academic and popular. The book is a fast and fairly easy read, but I found the last third to be disappointing.
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