Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781982176358)

The "shocking" (The Wall Street Journal), must-read story of Charlie Chaplin's years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare, and how it ruined his film career, from bestselling biographer Scott Eyman.

Bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin's fall from grace. In the aftermath of World War II, Chaplin was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist in outlook. He had never become a US citizen, something that would be held against him as xenophobia set in when the postwar Red Scare took hold.

Politics aside, Chaplin had another problem: his sexual interest in young women. He had been married three times and had had numerous affairs. In the 1940s, he was the subject of a paternity suit, which he lost, despite blood tests that proved he was not the father. His sexuality became a convenient way for those who opposed his politics to condemn him. Refused permission to return to the US after a trip abroad, he settled in Switzerland and made his last two films in London.

In Charlie Chaplin vs. America, Scott Eyman explores the life and times of the movie genius who brought us such masterpieces as City Lights and Modern Times. "One of the finest surveys of the man and the artist ever written" (Leonard Maltin) this book is "a sobering account of cancel culture in action." (The Economist).

Author: Scott Eyman
ISBN-10: 1982176350
ISBN-13: 9781982176358
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Language: English
Published: 10/31/2023
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.10w x 1.70d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 05/01/2023 pg. 27
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2023
Publishers Weekly 08/28/2023
Library Journal 10/01/2023 pg. 127
Booklist 10/15/2023 pg. 12
Shelf Awareness 11/03/2023
Choice 04/01/2024