About the Author

Lester Friedman is Scholar-in-Residence for the Media and Society Program at Hobart William Smith Collage, Washington DC. Previous publications include The Jewish Image in American Film (1987), Unspeakable Images: Multiculturalism in American Cinema (1991), and Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1999).

Reviews

(for First Edition) 'Lester Friedman's new book will probably remain the definitive statement on the Thatcherite period in film production. In all cases, the essays are lucidly argued, and the list of films and critical texts examined quite literally exhaustive. The volume affords even the most casual reader a comprehensive look at one of the most interesting areas in recent cinematic practice and is recommended for both the general reader or as a key text in a course covering the films of the period. Fires Were Started is an excellent anthology graced with significant contributions from a gifted gallery of critical voices.' Wheeler Winston Dixon, Cineaste 'Fires Were Started, a superb new anthology edited by Lester Friedman, offers 16 original, lucid and stimulating attempts to examine the pieces of the puzzle. The insight, thoroughness, and eloquence with which virtually every contributor approaches his or her topic makes the book a cornucopia of diverse methodologies for relating films to their social and political context. Virtually all these authors provide insights that extend beyond their specific topics. These thought-provoking essays add up to a stimulating textbook and a major resource for future discussions.' Matthew Bernstein, Film Quarterly 'Fires Were Started covers much of the ground of the British cinema in the 1980s, and does so generally intelligently and solidly.' Paul Coates, Social Discourse 'Some of the book's strongest sections are those which are unexpected, moving us away from the well-trodden paths of draughtsmen and ploughmen and the sound of chariots.' Janet Sillars, Screen