The Gordon File: A Screenwriter Recalls Twenty Years of FBI Surveillance
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.40 (975 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0292728433 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 366 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-06-30 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Great Book, Great Writer, Great American David L. Robb True heroes who are also literary heroes come along only once in a generation. A few that come to mind include Henry David Thoreau (Walden), John Reed ("10 Days that Shook the World"), T.E. Lawrence ("The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"), Anne Frank ("The Diar. Daniel Levin said A great story, timely and important. This is a highly readable, smartly written, surprisingly entertaining, but ultimately sobering look at a very disturbing chapter in our history, the era of the blacklist and the hysteria about 'communists' in our midst. What becomes quickly clear, and w. The Gordon File: Personal History of an American Tragedy This is a first person account of an era in American history that must not be forgotten. People were encouraged to spy on friends and colleagues for purely political reasons. Many lost their jobs and were black-listed and had to leave the country if the
Given the lavish use of resources, one might assume this man was a threat to national security or perhaps a kingpin of organized crime - not a Hollywood screenwriter whose most subversive act was joining the Communist Party during the 1940s when we were allied with the USSR in a war against Germany. Drawing on his FBI file of over 300 pages, which he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, he traces how the Bureau followed him from Hollywood to Mexico, Paris, London, Rome, and even aboard a Dutch freighter as he created an unusually successful, albeit uncredited, career as a screenwriter and producer during the blacklist years.Comparing his actual activities during that time to records in the file, he pointedly and often humorously underscores how often the FBI got it wrong, from the smallest details of his life to the main fact of his not being a threat to national security. "Is it possible," he asks, "that books like this will help to move our investigative agencies from the job of blackmailing those who are critical of our imperfect democracy to arresting those who are truly out to destroy us?". For this honest act of political dissent, Gordon came to be investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952, blacklisted by the Hollywood film industry, and tailed by the FBI for over t
Bernard Gordon wrote or produced more than twenty motion pictures, including Battle of the Bulge, 55 Days at Peking, The Thin Red Line, Krakatoa East of Java, Day of the Triffids, Earth vs. . Bernard Gordon lives in Los Angeles. the Flying Saucers, and Horror Express. Still active in struggles for democratic values, he helped lead the fight against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award to Elia Kazan, who cooperated with the House
"Most Americans imagine, I think, that the government agencies charged with national security are at least well intentioned and reasonably competent, but this book will shatter their illusions on both counts. It might also cause them to think twice about some of the programs for collecting 'intelligence' and 'information' that have been proposed for the current 'war against terrorism.' Although The Gordon File tells a story that comes to an end around 1970, the lesson could hardly be more timely than it is today." Fred Haines, a filmmaker whose credits include Ulysses and Steppenwolf"