Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only
The Life of America’s First Black Filmmaker
Patrick McGilligan
432 Pages
On-Sale Date: 17/06/2008
ISBN: 9780060731403
Trim Size: 5.950in x 8.950in x 1.200in
Oscar Micheaux was the Jackie Robinson of film, the black D. W. Griffith—a bigger-than-life American folk hero whose important life story has been nearly forgotten today. The son of freed slaves, he roamed America as a Pullman porter before making his first mark as a homesteader in South Dakota—and going on from there to become the king of the “race cinema” industry, producing and/or directing nearly forty films during a time of Jim Crow segregation when African-American artists were not welcome in Hollywood.
In this groundbreaking new biography, award-winning film historian Patrick McGilligan offers a vivid and fascinating portrait of a true pioneer of American culture who was equal parts visionary, hustler, huckster, innovator, and raffish Barnum-like showman—and the first great African-American filmmaker.
“McGilligan deftly assembles the sterling research of scholars of early black filmmaking into an enormously moving and compelling account of a quixotic life defined by arduous toil and perpetual optimism.” — DGA Quarterly
“a well researched, passionately felt and endlessly fascinating look at a singular American life.” — Kirkus Reviews
“McGilligan has made this incredible, half-forgotten life newly available to us all.” — The Guardian
“An enormously moving and compelling account of a quixotic life defined by arduous toil and perpetual optimism.” — Directors Guild Association Quarterly
McGilligan does a fine job of reaffirming Micheaux’s significance beyond the appreciation of cineastes. — Publishers Weekly
“In the skilled hands of Patrick McGilligan, Oscar Micheaux’s life story bristles and takes flight.” — Pearl Bowser, author of Writing Himself into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films and His Audiences
“a lively, readable tale” — New York Times Book Review
Praise for Alfred Hitchcock: “Staggering… illuminating… The Master of Suspense finally gets and authoritative life.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Praise for Alfred Hitchcock: “Enthralling, scholarly, and candid.” — Publishers Weekly
Praise for Alfred Hitchcock: “Magnificently exhaustive, absolutely definitive, marvelously magesterial…” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
Praise for Alfred Hitchcock: “A hugely satisfying portrait of the artist.” — Entertainment Weekly
