Emile de Antonio: Radical Filmmaker in Cold War America

It's easy to forget the importance of alternative media figures like de Antonio, but he was Michael Moore before there was Michael Moore (and he did it with an intellectual seriousness that MM can't touch). I read this book in a college class and was blown away: the author writes beautifully (how many academics do that?), he really brings the 60s and 70s alive as we read about Nixon, Ho, Weatherman, the Berrigans, and he shows the importance of using media creatively/politically for cultural critique. If this isn't relevant in the age of Bush, when every media appearance is stage managed like a puppet show, I don't know what is. A must read for anyone interested in the noisy intersection of media and politics. Well done.

I had never even heard of de Antonio, but Randolph Lewis has now sparked my interest in his films, and in American documentary filmmaking more generally. A truly masterful work!