When History And Pop Culture Collide

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2012-06-26/when-history-and-pop-culture-collide
When History And Pop Culture Collide

The Hatfields and the McCoys. Oliver Stone's JFK. Roots: the miniseries. Hollywood often uses real history as a backdrop for dramatic stories, but you can't always tell where truth ends and fiction begins.

It's common for Americans to learn about history through Hollywood movies and literary works of fiction. But popular culture can distort our perceptions of historical events -- merging what's real with what's dramatized, and causing problems with sensitive subjects such as slavery and the Civil War. A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian/journalist and award-winning film scholar/playwright join Kojo to explore what happens when pop culture collides with history.

Guests

Murray Horwitz

film historian; author; and playwright

Tony Horwitz

author, 'Midnight Rising:John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War' (Henry Holt)

Related Items

Image of Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War
Image of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War

Comments

Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.

Plbdc1 wrote:

On Gone With the Wind, pop culture, and history: http://www.salon.com/topic/civil_war/?mobile.html

Tue, 06/26/2012 - 1:24pm
Unsprung wrote:

I listen to the show. Can the guests compile a suggested list of historically accurate movies?

Tue, 06/26/2012 - 2:20pm
The Kojo Nnamdi Show is produced by member-supported WAMU 88.5 in Washington DC.