Books by Oliver Stone
The Untold History of the United States
by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick
The companion to the Showtime documentary series, director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick challenge the prevailing orthodoxies of traditional history books in this thoroughly researched and rigorously analyzed look at the dark side of American history.
“At last the world knows America as the savior of the world!”—Woodrow Wilson
The notion of American exceptionalism, dating back to John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon aboard the Arbella, still warps Americans’ understanding of their nation’s role in the world. Most are loathe to admit that the United States has any imperial pretensions. But history tells a different story as filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick reveal in this riveting account of the rise and decline of the American empire.
Aided by the latest archival findings and recently declassified documents and building on the research of the world’s best scholars, Stone and Kuznick construct an often shocking but meticulously documented “People’s History of the American Empire” that offers startling context to the Bush-Cheney policies that put us at war in two Muslim countries and show us why the Obama administration has had such a difficult time cleaving a new path.
Stone and Kuznick will introduce readers to a pantheon of heroes and villains as they show not only how far the United States has drifted from its democratic traditions, but the powerful forces that have struggled to get us back on track.
The authors reveal that:
· The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were militarily unnecessary and morally indefensible.
· The United States, not the Soviet Union, bore the lion’s share of responsibility for perpetuating the Cold War.
· The U.S. love affair with right-wing dictators has gone as far as overthrowing elected leaders, arming and training murderous military officers, and forcing millions of people into poverty.
· U.S.-funded Islamist fundamentalists, who fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan, have blown back to threaten the interests of the U.S. and its allies.
· U.S. presidents, especially in wartime, have frequently trampled on the constitution and international law.
· The United States has brandished nuclear threats repeatedly and come terrifyingly close to nuclear war.
American leaders often believe they are unbound by history, yet Stone and Kuznick argue that we must face our troubling history honestly and forthrightly in order to set a new course for the twenty-first century. Their conclusions will challenge even experts, but there is one question only readers can answer: Is it too late for America to change?
Copies
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Chasing The Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game
by Oliver Stone
An intimate memoir by the controversial and outspoken Oscar-winning director and screenwriter about his complicated New York childhood, volunteering for combat, and his struggles and triumphs making such films as Platoon, Midnight Express, and Scarface.
Before the international success of Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while driving taxis in New York, finally venturing westward to Los Angeles and a new life. Stone, now 73, recounts those formative years with in-the-moment details of the high and low moments: We see meetings with Al Pacino over Stone’s scripts for Scarface, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July; the harrowing demon of cocaine addiction following the failure of his first feature, The Hand (starring Michael Caine); his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for Scarface; his stormy relationship with The Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino; the breathless hustles to finance the acclaimed and divisive Salvador; and tensions behind the scenes of his first Academy Award–winning film, Midnight Express.
Chasing the Light is a true insider’s look at Hollywood’s years of upheaval in the 1970s and ’80s.
Copies
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Chasing The Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game
by Oliver Stone
An intimate memoir by the controversial, Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Oliver Stone
Before moving to Los Angeles and the international success of Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while working odd jobs in Manhattan. Stone, now 73, recounts those formative years with in-the-moment details of the highs and lows: meetings with Al Pacino over Stone’s early scripts; the harrowing demon of cocaine addiction; the failure of his first feature; his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for Scarface; and much more. Chasing the Light is a true insider’s guide to Hollywood’s razor-edged years of upheaval in the 1970s and ’80s with untold stories of decade-defining films from the man behind the camera.
Copies
No copies available.
The Untold History of the United States, Volume 2: Young Readers Edition, 1945-1962
by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick
Discover America’s secrets in this second of two volumes of the young readers’ edition of The Untold History of the United States, from Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, adapted by Eric Singer.
There is history as we know it. And there is history we should have known.
Complete with poignant photos and little-known but vitally important stories, this second of two volumes traces how people around the world responded to the United States’s rise as a superpower from the end of World War II through an increasingly tense Cold War and, eventually, to the brink of nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is not the kind of history taught in schools or normally presented on television or in popular movies. This riveting young readers volume challenges prevailing orthodoxies to reveal uncomfortable realities about the US role in heightening Cold War tensions. It also humanizes the experiences of diverse people, at home and abroad, who yearned for a more just, equal, and compassionate world. This volume will come as a breath of fresh air for students, teachers, and budding young historians hungry for different perspectives—which makes it a crucial counterpoint to today’s history textbooks.
Adapted by high school and university educator Eric S. Singer from the bestselling book and companion to the documentary The Untold History of the United States by Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and renowned historian Peter Kuznick, this volume gives young readers a powerful and provocative look at the US role in the Cold War. It also provides a blueprint for those concerned with shaping a better and more equitable future for people across the world.
Copies
No copies available.
The Untold History of the United States, Volume 2: Young Readers Edition, 1945-1962
by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick
Discover America’s secrets in this second of two volumes of the young readers’ edition of The Untold History of the United States, from Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, adapted by Eric Singer.
There is history as we know it. And there is history we should have known.
Complete with poignant photos and little-known but vitally important stories, this second of two volumes traces how people around the world responded to the United States’s rise as a superpower from the end of World War II through an increasingly tense Cold War and, eventually, to the brink of nuclear annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This is not the kind of history taught in schools or normally presented on television or in popular movies. This riveting young readers volume challenges prevailing orthodoxies to reveal uncomfortable realities about the US role in heightening Cold War tensions. It also humanizes the experiences of diverse people, at home and abroad, who yearned for a more just, equal, and compassionate world. This volume will come as a breath of fresh air for students, teachers, and budding young historians hungry for different perspectives—which makes it a crucial counterpoint to today’s history textbooks.
Adapted by high school and university educator Eric S. Singer from the bestselling book and companion to the documentary The Untold History of the United States by Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and renowned historian Peter Kuznick, this volume gives young readers a powerful and provocative look at the US role in the Cold War. It also provides a blueprint for those concerned with shaping a better and more equitable future for people across the world.
Copies
No copies available.
The Untold History of the United States, Volume 1: Young Readers Edition, 1898-1945
by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick
The truth about America is revealed in this first of four volumes of the young readers’ edition of The Untold History of the United States, from Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, adapted by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
There is history as we know it. And there is history we should have known.
Complete with photos, illustrations, and little-known documents, this first of four volumes covers crucial moments in American history from the late nineteenth century to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This is not the kind of history taught in schools or normally presented on television or in popular movies. This riveting young readers’ edition challenges prevailing orthodoxies to reveal the dark reality about the rise and fall of the American empire for curious, budding historians who are hungry for the truth. Based on the latest archival findings and recently declassified information, this book will come as a surprise to the vast majority of students and their teachers—and that’s precisely why this edition is such a crucial counterpoint to today’s history textbooks.
Adapted by Newbery Honor recipient Susan Campbell Bartoletti from the bestselling book and companion to the documentary The Untold History of the United States by Academy Award–winning director Oliver Stone and renowned historian Peter Kuznick, this volume presents young readers with a powerful and provocative look at the past century of American imperialism.
Copies
No copies available.
On History: Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation
In working together on two challenging new documentariesSouth of the Border and the forthcoming The Untold History of the United States series for Showtimefilmmaker Oliver Stone engaged with author and filmmaker Tariq Ali in a probing, hard-hitting conversation on
the politics of history.
Their dialogue brings to light a number of forgottenor deliberately buriedepisodes of American history, from the US intervention against the Russian Revolution and the dynamic radicalism of the
Industrial Workers of the World to Henry Wallace’s sidelining by Democratic Party machine insiders and the ongoing interference of the United States in Pakistani political affairs.
For Stone and Alitwo of our most insightful observers on history and popular cultureno topic is sacred, no orthodoxy goes unchallenged.
TARIQ ALI is an internationally acclaimed Pakistani writer and filmmaker. He has written more than two dozen books on world history and politics and seven novels (translated into over a dozen languages) as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of New Left Review and lives in London.
OLIVER STONE has directed, among other films, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, W., World Trade Center, Alexander, Any Given Sunday, Nixon, Natural Born Killers, Heaven and Earth, JFK, The Doors, Born on the Fourth of July, Talk Radio, Wall Street, Platoon, Salvador, and the documentaries Looking for Fidel, Comandante, Persona Non Grata, South of the Border, and the upcoming The Untold History of the United States series for Showtime.
Copies
No copies available.