Challenging audiences and leaving critics in disarray, the films of
Oliver Stone have compelled viewers to reexamine many of their most
revered beliefs about America's past. Like no other filmmaker,
Stone has left an indelible mark on public opinion and political
life, even as he has generated enormous controversy and debate
among those who take issue with his dramatic use of history.
This book brings Stone face-to-face with some of his most
thoughtful critics and supporters and allows Stone himself ample
room to respond to their views. Featuring such luminaries as David
Halberstam, Stephen Ambrose, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Walter
Lafeber, and Robert Rosenstone, these writers critique Stone's most
contested films to show how they may distort, amplify, or transcend
the historical realities they appear to depict.
These essays--on "Salvador," "Platoon," "Wall Street," "Born on
the Fourth of July," "The Doors," "JFK," "Heaven and Earth,"
"Natural Born Killers," and "Nixon"--enlarge our understanding of
Stone's films, while also giving us a fuller appreciation of the
filmmaker as artist and intellectual. They reveal how Stone's
experience in Vietnam colors his views of American government and
corporate culture and suggest new ways of looking at the complex
tensions between art and history that shape Stone's films.
In response, Stone offers an articulate and passionate defense
of his artistic vision. Disavowing once and for all the mantle of
"cinematic historian," Stone declares himself first and foremost a
storyteller, a dramatist and mythmaker who deliberately refashions
historical facts in pursuit of higher truths. The undeniable
centerpiece of this artistic manifesto is Stone's fascinating
commentary on the making and meanings of JFK, the film that
reopened a case that many thought finally closed.
A provocative and timely reexamination of a great American
artist, Oliver Stone's USA will also reignite public debate over
the relationship between history and art as well as the artist's
responsibility to his audience.
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