A Rotten Affair Exposed

Well narrated if occasionally repetitive, this book provides a valuable contribution to the history of a dark period in US history. The appeasement of Nazi Germany fuelled by nothing more than the profit motive is a scandal that needed exposing. I fear I can never look at Hollywood movies of the 1930s it the same way ever again.

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Hollywood and Hitler may seem like strange bedfellows but during the thirties they seemed to have a stormy courtship - money motivating Hollywood and madness motivating Hitler.
Ben Urwand has written a very thoroughly researched piece of work which also has the added bonus of being readable and accessible to the general public. It will certainly stimulate you to ask questions about how far the authorities not only in the States but elsewhere in the world knew what was happening to the Jews in Europe. Urwand takes a critical look at how the movie industry was driven by financial gains but he also shows that other motivations were at work on the allied side in their silence over the camps. He reveals how the Jewish lobbies in the States were also divided.
Some reviewers have criticised him for his seeming condemnation of Hollywood but I felt he recounted the facts without being overly emotional or prejudiced in his approach. Mind you some of the negative reviews came from authors writing on a similar subject so they may have had a vested interest!
The narrator is excellent and he does accents particularly well.
Whether you agree with the author or not you will certainly not be indifferent to the subject and no doubt will want to know more.

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