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Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films
Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films
By Molly Haskell
Published January 3, 2017
248 pages
“Uncommonly absorbing” —The New Republic
A film-centric portrait of the extraordinarily gifted movie director whose decades-long influence on American popular culture is unprecedented
“Everything about me is in my films,” Steven Spielberg has said. Taking this as a key to understanding the hugely successful moviemaker, Molly Haskell explores the full range of Spielberg’s works for the light they shine upon the man himself. Through such powerhouse hits as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones, to lesser-known masterworks like A.I. and Empire of the Sun, to the haunting Schindler’s List, Haskell shows how Spielberg’s uniquely evocative filmmaking and story-telling reveal the many ways in which his life, work, and times are entwined.
Organizing chapters around specific films, the distinguished critic discusses how Spielberg’s childhood in non-Jewish suburbs, his parents’ traumatic divorce, his return to Judaism upon his son’s birth, and other events echo in his work. She offers a brilliant portrait of the extraordinary director—a fearful boy living through his imagination who grew into a man whose openness, generosity of spirit, and creativity have enchanted audiences for more than 40 years.
About the Author
Molly Haskell is a film critic and the author of five previous books, including From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, Love and Other Infectious Diseases, and Frankly, My Dear: “Gone with the Wind” Revisited. She writes and lectures widely on film. She lives in New York City.
Author photograph © Jim Carpenter
Reviews
“A swift and elegant introduction to Spielberg's life and work” —The New Yorker
“Lively, the critic is deeply informed” —The New York Times Book Review
“It’s a high compliment to any book that when it ends, you wish it wouldn’t...Very entertaining.” —Newsday
“Legendary movie critic Haskell weaves Spielberg’s entire body of work through her captivating narrative, providing a poignant study of him as a person and a filmmaker.” —Publishers Weekly