Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News by A. Brad Schwartz and Josh Karp’s Orson Welles’s Last Movie: The Making of “The Other Side of the Wind” won’t arrive in bookstores until spring but the early word on both is encouraging.
Publishers Weekly said that Broadcast Hysteria, due out in May from Hill and Wang, “lays out a balanced case — recognizing that some Americans did consider War of the Worlds an actual news report and were deeply frightened by it, but that most treated it as a scary prank or a betrayal of the radio’s supposed objectivity. The book rightly emphasizes the enormous power mass media wields over the emotions and politics of the country.”
“Welles’s Martian landing might not have fooled today’s listeners, but our vulnerability and our appetite for fake news persists. Schwartz’s book is an impeccable account of the most famous radio show in history, a fascinating biography of Orson Welles, and a vital lesson about the responsibility of the media,” it wrote.
Of Orson Welles’s Last Movie, Kirkus says that Karp provides a “hilarious and sobering saga of one of the greatest films never finished.”
“Luckily, there’s nothing unfinished in Karp’s retelling. He follows every story, dollar and last legal battle in full detail. Whether the film sees a 2015 release on the anniversary of Welles’ birth, as was speculated as of late last year, we at least have Karp to thank for the next best thing.”
Karp’s book is due in April from St. Martin’s Press.
Both authors will be appearing at various centenary celebrations in the months ahead.
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