"André Bazin (1918–58) is credited with almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as with being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. Among those who came under his tutelage were four who would go on to become the most renowned directors of the postwar French cinema: François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, and Claude Chabrol. Bazin can also be considered the principal instigator of the equally influential auteur theory: the idea that, since film is an art form, the director of a movie must be perceived as the chief creator of its unique cinematic style.André Bazin, the Critic as Thinker: American Cinema from Early Chaplin to the Late 1950s contains, for the first time in English in one volume, much if not all of Bazin’s writings on American cinema: on directors such as Orson Welles, Charles Chaplin, Preston Sturges, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, John Huston, Nicholas Ray, Erich von Stroheim, and Elia Kazan; and on films such as High Noon, Citizen Kane, Rear Window, Limelight, Scarface, Niagara, The Red Badge of Courage, Greed, and Sullivan’s Travels.André Bazin, the Critic as Thinker: American Cinema from Early Chaplin to the Late 1950s also features a sizable scholarly apparatus, including a contextual introduction to Bazin’s life and work, a complete bibliography of Bazin’s writings on American cinema, and credits of the films discussed. This volume thus represents a major contribution to the still growing academic discipline of cinema studies, as well as a testament to the continuing influence of one of the world’s pre-eminent critical thinkers."

Barrio Gangs is the most comprehensive academic case study of barrio group dynamics in a major Texas city to date. This is a sociological work on the history of barrio gangs in San Antonio and other large Texas cities to the present day. It examines the century-long evolution of urban barrio subcultures using public archives, oral histories, old photos, and other forms of qualitative data. The study gives special attention to the barrio gangs’ “heyday,” from the 1940s through the 1960s, comparing their attributes to those of modern groups. It illustrates how social and technological changes have affected barrio networking processes and the intensity of the street lifestyle over time. Intergenerational shifts and the tension that accompanies such changes are also central themes in the book. Few other places are so conducive to such historical exploration as is San Antonio. Street ignobility in the barrio no doubt mirrors processes found in other Chicano communities in Texas and the Southwest. The gang contexts in major Chicano population centers have lengthy historical bases rooted in weak opportunity structures, oppression, and discrimination. This work shows that participation in street violence, drug selling, and other parts of the informal economy are functional adaptations to the social structure; the forces propelling the formation of barrio gangs are not temporary social phenomena.

A new collection of posthumous writings by André Baz

Bazin's impact on film art, as theorist and critic, is considered to be greater than that of any single director, actor, or producer. He is credited with almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as with being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. Bazin at Work is the first English collection of disparate Bazin writings since the appearance of the second volume of What Is Cinema? in 1971. It includes work from Cahiers le cinema (which he founded and which is the most influential single critical periodical in the history of the cinema) and Esprit. He addresses filmmakers including Rossellini, Eisenstein, Pagnol, and Capra and well-known films including La Strada, Citizen Kane, Scarface, and The Bridge on the River Kwai.

André Bazin remains one of the most read, most studied, and most engaging figures ever to have written about film. Fifty years after his death, he is still widely recognized as cinema's most significant philosopher-critic. Always an important presence within cinema theory, Bazin has seen a massive resurgence of interest among critics, scholars, and students now that an electronic archive of his entire critical output has been catalogued. Opening Bazin assesses the great critic's influence and legacy, with essays from several generations of the very best film scholars: Gunning, Frodon, Margulies, Conley, MacCabe, Narboni, and Vernet, to name just a few. Ultimately, these essays reaffirm Bazin's relevance in this new century, tracing his lineage, debating his aesthetics, locating him in the rich cultural moment of postwar France, and tracking the effect of his thought around the world.

"The Great God Pan is a haunting, deeply affecting play about the interaction of identity, psychology and pathology. Ms. Herzog writes with keen sensitivity to the complex weave of feelings embedded in all human relationships, with particular attention to the way we tiptoe around areas of radioactive emotion." - New York Times "Whatever the ideal contemporary American drama is, it has to look a lot like The Great God Pan. It is provocative and subtle, slowly, carefully revelatory, sweetly moving, thought-provoking, funny and insightful." - New York Observer "An intelligent, delicately articulate writer." - Village Voice "A moving and unsettling look at the nature of identity and the vagaries of memory. With subtlety and compassion, Herzog contemplates how well we can really know ourselves." - Backstage Jamie's life in Brooklyn seems just fine: a beautiful girlfriend, a burgeoning journalism career, and parents who live just far enough away. But when a possible childhood trauma comes to light, lives are thrown into a tailspin. Unsettling and deeply compassionate, The Great God Pan tells the intimate tale of what is lost and won when a hidden truth is suddenly revealed. Amy Herzog's plays include 4000 Miles (Pulitzer Prize finalist), After the Revolution and Belleville. Ms. Herzog is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Whiting Writers' Award, an Obie Award and the Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights.