Cradle Will Rock: Making the Next Decades the Best Years of Your Life -- Through the 40s, 50s, and Beyond

I got this after falling in love with the movie Cradle Will Rock, and it did not fail to amaze me! It balances a script with so much historical information to back it up, insights, and pictures both from the movie and the real moments of Cradle Will Rock. It has informational blurbs about Marc Blitzstein: Composer and Enigma, Orson Welles, Hallie Flanagan, Christopher Marlowe and the questioning of him being a communist, the real Olive Stanton, the death of Vaudeville, Diego Rivera, and so many other things. It also has great pictures from the film, including some candid shots. I used it as a source on my paper on the Federal Theatre Project, it's an excellent source of historical information, but it's also very entertaining to read! The day I got it I spent hours going through it. It's well worth the money, my favorite coffee table book!

This book includes movie script, many photos and the historical notes about the U.S. in 1930s. The main plot is as follows: In the age of the Great Depression, the Federal Theater Project gave many U.S. people encouraging entertainment, and gave many actors and artists their jobs. The movement gave birth to Marc Blitzstein's masterpiece 'Cradle Will Rock' (directed by Orson Welles), but the play offended the reactionary congressmen. They made their soldiers lock out the theater. 'Cradle Will Rock,' can't the play see the light? Or... In addition, the movie has the clash between Diego Rivera and Nelson Rockfeller over the Rockfeller Center's mural, etc. And the book has the detailed background notes of the movie. They are a great help for me. For example, I thought red-hunting movement was made by the Republicans, but it's my misunderstanding. And I learn that Harlem Renaissance (I like Zora Neale Hurston) wasn't an isolated and mutant movement. Etc, etc. The movie and the book represent artists' courage. In the afterword, Tim Robbins says 'I believe threre are already too many artists who censor themselves.' I, too, think so. Bravo, Tim and his comrades ('gangs'?)! A toast to your brilliance, effort and bravery!

The book is lovely, it includes the script, a foreward by Paul Newman, wonderful photos and historical background. A must have for fans of the movie. However, the hardcover version of this book has only 150 pages (including the index) not 208 as advertised, so you are getting more than a quarter less book for your money.