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expatally 's review for:
The Butler: A Witness to History
by Wil Haygood
A quick read/listen describing the basis for the movie "The Butler: A Witness to History." A fascinating approach to the history of African-American civil rights in America, covering one man's life from growing up on a Southern plantation as a child, to serving 8 different US Presidents as a White House butler, culminating on casting a vote for the 1st black American President in 2008.
The book also covers the history of movies on African American themes with African American actors. From the first Oscar won by Sidney Poitier for In The Heat of the Night, to controversial movies such as The Birth of a Nation (a racist movie glorifying the KKK) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (a movie designed to increase abolitionist sympathies, but still condescendingly portraying black Americans as simple caricatures who needed white Americans to save them).
The book gives you more information about the butler that the movie is based on as the movie is only loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen. Worth reading before seeing the movie to have a broader understanding of the process behind the development of the movie.
The book also covers the history of movies on African American themes with African American actors. From the first Oscar won by Sidney Poitier for In The Heat of the Night, to controversial movies such as The Birth of a Nation (a racist movie glorifying the KKK) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (a movie designed to increase abolitionist sympathies, but still condescendingly portraying black Americans as simple caricatures who needed white Americans to save them).
The book gives you more information about the butler that the movie is based on as the movie is only loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen. Worth reading before seeing the movie to have a broader understanding of the process behind the development of the movie.