While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but incomplete
Review: I imagine this is the first book of its kind, to examine the role television has had in "popularizing" the idea of the Holocaust as a specific, historical entity. As such, much of it is groundbreaking. His chapter on the Sunday morning ecumenical religious programming of the 50's and 60's is especially interesting--I remember those shows from my childhood and his plot summaries make me realize that most of those programs, though done on limited budgets, were vastly more thought-provoking and innovative than most present-day programming. The book remains provocative as the author discusses documentaries, dramatic series shows, the Eichmann trial, and the miniseries Holocaust. He keeps the issue of "Holocaust memory culture" and questions of who "owns" the Holocaust front and center. However, when he comes to the 80's and 90's, he strays far afield from his original intent, discussing issues such as Reagan's visit to Bitburg and the recent ethnic cleansing in Bosnia with only tangential ties to the central focus of television. The final section, on Holocaust museums, is interesting but again isn't made to seem terribly relevant to his original thesis. Despite what the Kirkus reviewer said, I think his style is quite good; a nice balance between academic and popular. The book is a fast and fairly easy read, but I found the last third to be disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but incomplete
Review: I imagine this is the first book of its kind, to examine the role television has had in "popularizing" the idea of the Holocaust as a specific, historical entity. As such, much of it is groundbreaking. His chapter on the Sunday morning ecumenical religious programming of the 50's and 60's is especially interesting--I remember those shows from my childhood and his plot summaries make me realize that most of those programs, though done on limited budgets, were vastly more thought-provoking and innovative than most present-day programming. The book remains provocative as the author discusses documentaries, dramatic series shows, the Eichmann trial, and the miniseries Holocaust. He keeps the issue of "Holocaust memory culture" and questions of who "owns" the Holocaust front and center. However, when he comes to the 80's and 90's, he strays far afield from his original intent, discussing issues such as Reagan's visit to Bitburg and the recent ethnic cleansing in Bosnia with only tangential ties to the central focus of television. The final section, on Holocaust museums, is interesting but again isn't made to seem terribly relevant to his original thesis. Despite what the Kirkus reviewer said, I think his style is quite good; a nice balance between academic and popular. The book is a fast and fairly easy read, but I found the last third to be disappointing.