{"title":"Greg Mitchell","description":"\u003cp\u003eGreg Mitchell’s works delve into pivotal moments and cultural shifts with a keen eye for detail and nuance. Readers can expect compelling narratives that explore the intersections of history, society, and artistic expression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a thoughtful approach to \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e, Mitchell’s books offer insightful perspectives that challenge and engage, making them ideal for those interested in understanding the deeper stories behind significant events and movements.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-beginning-or-the-end-by-greg-mitchell-9781620975732","title":"The Beginning or the End","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe shocking and significant story of how the White House and Pentagon scuttled an epic Hollywood production.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSoon after atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, MGM set out to make a movie studio chief Louis B. Mayer called \"the most important story\" he would ever film: a big budget dramatisation of the Manhattan Project and the invention and use of the revolutionary new weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver at Paramount, Hal B. Wallis was ramping up his own film version. His screenwriter: the novelist Ayn Rand, who saw in physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer the model for a character she was sketching for \u003ci\u003eAtlas Shrugged\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreg Mitchell's \u003ci\u003eThe Beginning or the End\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the first efforts of American media and culture to process the Atomic Age. A movie that began as a cautionary tale inspired by atomic scientists aiming to warn the world against a nuclear arms race would be drained of all impact due to revisions and retakes ordered by President Truman and the military for reasons of propaganda, politics, and petty human vanity (this was Hollywood).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMitchell has found his way into the lofty rooms, from Washington to California, where it happened, unearthing hundreds of letters and dozens of scripts that show how wise intentions were compromised in favour of defending the use of the bomb and the imperatives of postwar politics. As in his acclaimed Cold War true-life thriller \u003ci\u003eThe Tunnels\u003c\/i\u003e, he exposes how our implacable American myth-making mechanisms distort our history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Greg Mitchell is the best kind of historian, a true storyteller.' - Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Prometheus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'MGM's little-seen 1947 docudrama about the creation of the atomic bomb \u003ci\u003eThe Beginning or the End\u003c\/i\u003e provides the unlikely but fascinating subject for this rich look at the early nuclear age.' - \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Excellent research and rich dialogue give Mitchell's book a novelistic flair as he recounts the battles between MGM and the military over actor choices, deletions, revisions, and retakes concerning fact vs. fiction.' - \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'This intriguing, behind-the-scenes look at a disjointed creative partnership is sure to be of interest to readers of history and cinema.' - \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47599117172972,"sku":"9781620975732","price":75.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/f8713b374fef890eaeb4fc0e204ed640.jpg?v=1778024431"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/greg-mitchell.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}