The 1929 Louise Brooks film, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, is based on a bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning of the 20th Century. Was it – as many believed – the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This controversial and often censored work inspired a sequel, a parody, a play, a score of imitators, and two silent films. It was also translated into 14 languages, and sold more than 1,200,000 copies. This new edition of the original English language translation brings this important book back into print in the United States after more than 100 years. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations. More at www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html

Louise Brooks has become one of the most spectacular icons of early cinema. Her career began as a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies, and soon she was receiving film offers from both MGM and Paramount, mingling with the high and mighty of Hollywood, having a passionate affair with Charlie Chaplin, spending weekends at William Randolph Hearst's castle and captivating such men as William S. Paley, the founder of CBS. Cowie celebrates Lulu with rare film footage stills, private photos, letters, interviews, and text, exploring this influential cult figure and abiding symbol of the Jazz Age.

"Louise Brooks (1906-1985), one of the most famous actresses of the silent era, was renowned as much for her rebellion against Hollywood as for her performances in such classics as Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Collected here are eight autobiographical essays by Brooks, vividly describing her childhood in Kansas, her early career as a Denishawn dancer and Ziegfeld Follies "Glorified Girl," and her friendships with Martha Graham, Charles Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart and others."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The 1929 silent film, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, is based on a best-selling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, the book was a sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. Was it, as many believed, the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This controversial book is a work of literary sophistication and unusual historical significance. And today, copies of it are sought after by fans of the film and its legendary star, Louise Brooks. This new illustrated edition of the original English language translation brings this important work back into print after more than a century. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes many rare vintage images. More info at www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html

Julia Roberts played a prostitute, famously, in Pretty Woman. So did Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, Jane Fonda in Klute, Anna Karina in Vivre sa vie, Greta Garbo in Anna Christie, and Charlize Theron, who won an Academy Award for Monster. This engaging and generously illustrated study explores the depiction of female prostitute characters and prostitution in world cinema, from the silent era to the present-day industry. From the woman with control over her own destiny to the woman who cannot get away from her pimp, Russell Campbell shows the diverse representations of prostitutes in film. Marked Women classifies fifteen recurrent character types and three common narratives, many of them with their roots in male fantasy. The “Happy Hooker,” for example, is the liberated woman whose only goal is to give as much pleasure as she receives, while the “Avenger,” a nightmare of the male imagination, represents the threat of women taking retribution for all the oppression they have suffered at the hands of men. The “Love Story,” a common narrative, represents the prostitute as both heroine and anti-heroine, while “Condemned to Death” allows men to manifest, in imagination only, their hostility toward women by killing off the troubled prostitute in an act of cathartic violence. The figure of the woman whose body is available at a price has fascinated and intrigued filmmakers and filmgoers since the very beginning of cinema, but the manner of representation has also been highly conflicted and fiercely contested. Campbell explores the cinematic prostitute as a figure shaped by both reactionary thought and feminist challenges to the norm, demonstrating how the film industry itself is split by fascinating contradictions.

Well illustrated book on history of silent movies