{"product_id":"making-the-best-years-of-our-lives-the-hollywood-classic-that-inspired-a-nation-9781477328330","title":"Making the Best Years of Our Lives: The Hollywood Classic That Inspired a Nation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2023 Wall Award Finalist, Theatre Library Association \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e How a Hollywood gem transformed the national discourse on post-traumatic stress disorder. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Released in 1946, \u003ci\u003eThe Best Years of Our Lives\u003c\/i\u003e became an immediate success. \u003ci\u003eLife\u003c\/i\u003e magazine called it \"the first big, good movie of the post-war era\" to tackle the \"veterans problem.\" Today we call that problem PTSD, but in the initial aftermath of World War II, the modern language of war trauma did not exist. The film earned the producer Samuel Goldwyn his only Best Picture Academy Award. It offered the injured director, William Wyler, a triumphant postwar return to Hollywood. And for Harold Russell, a double amputee who costarred with Fredric March and Dana Andrews, the film provided a surprising second act. \u003cp\u003e Award-winning author Alison Macor illuminates the film's journey from script to screen and describes how this authentic motion picture moved audiences worldwide. General Omar Bradley believed \u003ci\u003eThe Best Years of Our Lives\u003c\/i\u003e would help \"the American people to build an even better democracy\" following the war, and the movie inspired broad reflection on reintegrating the walking wounded. But the film's nuanced critique of American ideals also made it a target, and the picture and its creators were swept up in the anti-Communist witch hunts of the late 1940s. In this authoritative history, Macor chronicles the making and meaning of a film that changed America. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlison Macor is a freelance writer and former film critic for the \u003ci\u003eAustin Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eAustin American-Statesman.\u003c\/i\u003e She has a PhD in Radio-Television-Film from UT Austin. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eChainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRewrite Man: The Life and Career of Screenwriter Warren Skaaren\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50509388251410,"sku":"9781477328330","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_dca14f75-011c-4bf5-9e2a-fe3a1a296381.jpg?v=1730896975","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/making-the-best-years-of-our-lives-the-hollywood-classic-that-inspired-a-nation-9781477328330","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}