History News

Fred Zinnemann and the Cinema of Resistance by Dr J E Smyth, has been published by the University Press of Mississippi.

Fred Zinnemann directed some of the most acclaimed and controversial films of the twentieth century, yet he has been a shadowy presence in Hollywood history. In Fred Zinnemann and the Cinema of Resistance, J. E. Smyth reveals the intellectual passion behind some of the most powerful films ever made about the rise and resistance to fascism and the legacy of the Second World War, from The Seventh Cross and The Search to High Noon, From Here to Eternity, and Julia. Smyth's book is the first to draw upon Zinnemann's extensive papers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and brings Fred Zinnemann's vision, voice, and film practice to life. In his engagement with the defining historical struggles of the twentieth century, Zinnemann fought his own battles with the Hollywood studio system, the critics, and a public bent on forgetting. Zinnemann's films explore the role of women and communists in the antifascist resistance, the West's support of Franco after the Spanish Civil War, and the darker side of America's national heritage. Smyth reconstructs a complex and conflicted portrait of Zinnemann's cinema of resistance, examining his sketches, script annotations, editing and production notes, and personal letters. Illustrated with seventy black-and-white images from Smyth's collection, Fred Zinnemann and the Cinema of Resistance discusses the director's professional and personal relationships with Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift, Audrey Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Gary Cooper; the critical reaction to his revisionist Western, High Noon; his battles over the censorship of From Here to Eternity, The Nun's Story, and Behold a Pale Horse; his unrealized history of the communist Revolution in China, Man's Fate; and the controversial study of political assassination, The Day of the Jackal. In this intense, richly textured narrative, Smyth enters the mind of one of Hollywood's master directors, redefining our knowledge of his artistic vision and practice.

Please also see the Academic Publications section of the website for details of all academic publications by the staff of the Warwick History Department.

An article by Dr Benjamin Smith, Arresting Mexican kingpin 'el Chapo' hardly means the drug war is over, has been published in The Guardian on Monday 24th February 2014.

For the full article, please see http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/24/el-chapo-arrest-mexico-most-wanted-drug-kingpin-end-era.

The new Warwick Jazz website has now been launched at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/jazz/, featuring Dr Roger Fagge, Professor Robert Jackson, Emeritus Reader Roger Magraw, and Dr Nicolas Pillai:

The Centre for the History of Medicine is delighted to advertise a Home/EU fees only equivalent Doctoral Studentship in the field of the History of Medicine in the Modern period. The successful candidate will also receive a bursary of £3000 (£1000 per annum in each of the first 3 years for full-time students or pro rata for part-time students), to defray research expenses. After a successful MPhil to PhD upgrade the post holder will be offered the opportunity for paid teaching of undergraduate seminars within the Department of History. Other opportunities for paid research work may become available depending on the successful candidate’s interests.

Applicants will be considered for an October 2014 start date. Candidates must have successfully completed a Taught MA or MA by Research within the history of medicine or associated field. The deadline for all information to be submitted is 12 noon, Friday 28th February 2014. For more details, including how to apply, please see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/chm/about/pros_stu/funding/hist_studentship.

 
Dr Claudia Stein has been awarded the European History Quarterly (EHQ) 2013 Prize for the article 'Images and Meaning-Making in a World of Resemblance: The Bavarian-Saxon Kidney Stone Affair of 1580'.

As part of a weekly series in HistoryExtra.com, the official website of BBC History magazine, Professor Rebecca Earle, cultural historian of Spanish America, picks out her favourite historical places to visit.

Please read the full article at http://www.historyextra.com/feature/my-favourite-historical-places-professor-rebecca-earle.

 
Professor Giogio Riello's article, Cotton, the Social Fabric, is featured as the cover story of the January 2014 edition of History Today.

In the article, Professor Riello explains that the world's first global commodity spawned a network of traders, producers and consumers, whose interactions shaped the modern world.

On 2nd February 2014, Professor Beat Kümin - co-founder of the Warwick Network for Parish Research - will be guest of honour and plenary speaker at the communal assembly in Gersau (Switzerland). This forms the launch event of a year of activities commemorating the temporary restauration of the parish republic in 1814. A few weeks later, he will also moderate a public panel debate on the ‘myth of freedom’, which forms part of an international conference on European republicanism sponsored by the district authorities and cantonal lottery fund. Further details of the celebrations can be accessed at http://my-parish.org/archives/1966.