William H. Epstein is Professor of English at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Recognizing Biography and Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biographical Criticism. R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and Director of Film Studies at Clemson University. His previous books include Shot on Location: Postwar American Cinema and the Exploration of Real Place and (with William Robert Bray) Hollywood's Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America.

"…a fine addition to the increasing library of studies of the biopic genre." — Biography"...a valuable resource for all who are interested in history and film … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"A provocative, critically astute study, this collection examines the biopic as a reflexive, refractive modernist film genre. Admirably researched essays provide close, compelling readings of chosen films, while exploring the multilayered matrices of historical fact, biographical and autobiographical literature, popular media representations, and cultural histories—shaping not only the lives and narratives of the performers, artists, and political/historical figures represented but also the practices of the filmmakers as they worked within or on the margins of the Hollywood industry." — Cynthia Lucia, Rider University"The volume's greatest strengths include its range, its variety of ideas on the significance of the biopic, and its research—definitive in several cases—into the relation between historical figures and their cinematic counterparts." — James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Strategic Patriotic MemoriesWilliam H. EpsteinPERFORMERS AND SHOWMEN Empty Words: Houdini and Houdini Murray PomeranceWoody Guthrie, Warts and All: The Biopic in the New American Cinema of the 1970sDennis Bingham"Weird Andy Hardy": Ed Wood and American National IdentityConstantine VerevisHOT AND COLD WARRIORS Topography and Typology: Wyatt Earp and the WestHomer B. PetteyPatton (1970): Celebrating the Un-American National HeroR. Barton PalmerJ. Edgar: Eastwood’s Man of MysteryDouglas McfarlandARTISTS AND WRITERS Nationalizing Abject American Artists: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Jean-Michel BasquiatJulie CodellAdapting Plathology: Sylvia (2003)Claire Perkins"The Dark Lady of American Photography": Steven Shainberg’s Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)Monika Pietrzak-FrangerEMANCIPATORS AND MARTYRS The Great White Hope (1970): A Forgotten Biopic?James Burns And Abel A. BartleyKinsey: An Inquiry into American Sexual IdentityGabriele LinkeToward a New LGBT Biopic: Politics and Reflexivity in Gus Van Sant’s Milk (2008)Julia G. ErhartSpielberg’s Lincoln: Memorializing EmancipationR. Barton PalmerAfterword: The Making of AmericansWilliam H. EpsteinContributorsIndex

William H. Epstein is Professor of English at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Recognizing Biography and Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biographical Criticism. R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and Director of Film Studies at Clemson University. His previous books include Shot on Location: Postwar American Cinema and the Exploration of Real Place and (with William Robert Bray) Hollywood's Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America.

"…a fine addition to the increasing library of studies of the biopic genre." — Biography"...a valuable resource for all who are interested in history and film … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"A provocative, critically astute study, this collection examines the biopic as a reflexive, refractive modernist film genre. Admirably researched essays provide close, compelling readings of chosen films, while exploring the multilayered matrices of historical fact, biographical and autobiographical literature, popular media representations, and cultural histories—shaping not only the lives and narratives of the performers, artists, and political/historical figures represented but also the practices of the filmmakers as they worked within or on the margins of the Hollywood industry." — Cynthia Lucia, Rider University"The volume's greatest strengths include its range, its variety of ideas on the significance of the biopic, and its research—definitive in several cases—into the relation between historical figures and their cinematic counterparts." — James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Strategic Patriotic MemoriesWilliam H. EpsteinPERFORMERS AND SHOWMEN Empty Words: Houdini and Houdini Murray PomeranceWoody Guthrie, Warts and All: The Biopic in the New American Cinema of the 1970sDennis Bingham"Weird Andy Hardy": Ed Wood and American National IdentityConstantine VerevisHOT AND COLD WARRIORS Topography and Typology: Wyatt Earp and the WestHomer B. PetteyPatton (1970): Celebrating the Un-American National HeroR. Barton PalmerJ. Edgar: Eastwood’s Man of MysteryDouglas McfarlandARTISTS AND WRITERS Nationalizing Abject American Artists: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Jean-Michel BasquiatJulie CodellAdapting Plathology: Sylvia (2003)Claire Perkins"The Dark Lady of American Photography": Steven Shainberg’s Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)Monika Pietrzak-FrangerEMANCIPATORS AND MARTYRS The Great White Hope (1970): A Forgotten Biopic?James Burns And Abel A. BartleyKinsey: An Inquiry into American Sexual IdentityGabriele LinkeToward a New LGBT Biopic: Politics and Reflexivity in Gus Van Sant’s Milk (2008)Julia G. ErhartSpielberg’s Lincoln: Memorializing EmancipationR. Barton PalmerAfterword: The Making of AmericansWilliam H. EpsteinContributorsIndex

William H. Epstein is Professor of English at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Recognizing Biography and Contesting the Subject: Essays in the Postmodern Theory and Practice of Biographical Criticism. R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and Director of Film Studies at Clemson University. His previous books include Shot on Location: Postwar American Cinema and the Exploration of Real Place and (with William Robert Bray) Hollywood's Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America.

"…a fine addition to the increasing library of studies of the biopic genre." — Biography"...a valuable resource for all who are interested in history and film … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"A provocative, critically astute study, this collection examines the biopic as a reflexive, refractive modernist film genre. Admirably researched essays provide close, compelling readings of chosen films, while exploring the multilayered matrices of historical fact, biographical and autobiographical literature, popular media representations, and cultural histories—shaping not only the lives and narratives of the performers, artists, and political/historical figures represented but also the practices of the filmmakers as they worked within or on the margins of the Hollywood industry." — Cynthia Lucia, Rider University"The volume's greatest strengths include its range, its variety of ideas on the significance of the biopic, and its research—definitive in several cases—into the relation between historical figures and their cinematic counterparts." — James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Strategic Patriotic MemoriesWilliam H. EpsteinPERFORMERS AND SHOWMEN Empty Words: Houdini and Houdini Murray PomeranceWoody Guthrie, Warts and All: The Biopic in the New American Cinema of the 1970sDennis Bingham"Weird Andy Hardy": Ed Wood and American National IdentityConstantine VerevisHOT AND COLD WARRIORS Topography and Typology: Wyatt Earp and the WestHomer B. PetteyPatton (1970): Celebrating the Un-American National HeroR. Barton PalmerJ. Edgar: Eastwood’s Man of MysteryDouglas McfarlandARTISTS AND WRITERS Nationalizing Abject American Artists: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Jean-Michel BasquiatJulie CodellAdapting Plathology: Sylvia (2003)Claire Perkins"The Dark Lady of American Photography": Steven Shainberg’s Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)Monika Pietrzak-FrangerEMANCIPATORS AND MARTYRS The Great White Hope (1970): A Forgotten Biopic?James Burns And Abel A. BartleyKinsey: An Inquiry into American Sexual IdentityGabriele LinkeToward a New LGBT Biopic: Politics and Reflexivity in Gus Van Sant’s Milk (2008)Julia G. ErhartSpielberg’s Lincoln: Memorializing EmancipationR. Barton PalmerAfterword: The Making of AmericansWilliam H. EpsteinContributorsIndex