Dear Screen-L:


The University of California Press  is pleased to announce the publication of:

Hollywood Be Thy Name: African American Religion in American Film, 1929-1949

Judith Weisenfeld is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Religion at 
Vassar College. She is the author of _African American Women and 
Christian Activism: New York's Black YWCA, 1905-1945_ and the 
coeditor of _This Far By Faith: Readings in African American  Women's 
Religious Biography._

http://go.ucpress.edu/WeisenfeldHollywood

"This is a ground-breaking book. The text is remarkable in its use of 
MPAA files and studio archives; Weisenfeld uncovers all sorts of side 
stories that enrich the larger narrative."-Colleen McDannell, author 
of _Picturing Faith: Photography and the Great Depression_

 From the earliest years of sound film in America, Hollywood studios 
and independent producers of "race films" for black audiences created 
stories featuring African American religious practices. In the first 
book to examine how the movies constructed images of African American 
religion, Judith Weisenfeld explores these cinematic representations 
and how they reflected and contributed to complicated discourses 
about race, the social and moral requirements of American 
citizenship, and the very nature of American identity.
Drawing on such textual sources as studio production files, 
censorship records, and discussions and debates about religion and 
film in the black press, as well as providing close readings of 
films, this richly illustrated and meticulously researched book 
brings religious studies and film history together in innovative ways.

Full information about the bookis available online: 
http://go.ucpress.edu/WeisenfeldHollywood


-- 
Lolita Guevarra
Electronic Marketing Coordinator
University of California Press
Tel. 510.643.4738 | Fax 510.643.7127
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu