Endless Passion

The ACADEMY AWARDS HANDBOOK is not a comprehensive source of information about the Academy Awards but it is instead a handy reference book which gives a complete listing of the Oscars by year. Any rules changes for the Awards competition are noted immediately following each year's listing.The book also includes a short description of each year's Oscar highlights and a list of the 100 best American films according to a poll conducted by the American Film Institute in 1998. CITIZEN KANE is No.l on the list. The ACADEMY AWARDS HANDBOOK is definitely true to its title and it is well worth the modest price tag.

I'm waiting to order this year's but I'm stlll a little mixed up about how they missed the fact that the winner for live action short (My Mother Dreams:The Satan's Disciples in NY) was revealed before the envelope was opened!!

The most readable and comprehensive Academy Awards book I have encountered, this is light and enjoyable reading. The commentary at the end of each synopsis is filled with information and opinions of the author, which are often very funny. This book is definitely a must for all followers of the Oscars. I only hope there'll be future editions.

I use this as sort of an encyclopedia, like if i wonder if someone has ever won an academy award, use the index it has and see the page number and find out ever nomination and ever oscar that person has ever had/won. The index also has movies. It also has a method to tell the winners in the oscar ceremony.

Film critic John Harkness leaves no sacred cow undesecrated in his latest version of The Academy Awards Handbook. In addition to a comprehensive listing of each year's nominees, Harkness tells who won, who lost, and why, in a witty style that runs the gamut from tongue-in-cheek to iron-fist-in-velvet-glove. Even the non-gambler should find the concluding chapter, "Predicting the Oscars: Winning Your Office Pool," worth the price of the book. If up to this point the reader still clings to any notion of the Academy as an austere, noble organization in service of the betterment of mankind, this Oscars-as-business dissection shows "the man behind the curtain" for all to see. If you're looking for a sentimental, fawning look at the film industry, look elsewhere. John Harkness may not have made many friends in Hollywood by calling the Oscars "a Tiffany lamp in a whorehouse," but grateful readers will find his candor and wit a refreshing change from the motion picture hype machine.