Buster Keaton, The Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century”

For the movie nerd in your life: The definitive biography of one of cinema’s most important figures – researched with the rigor of a scholar, fueled by the enthusiasm of a fan and written with the elegance of a great stylist. Dana Stevens’ Camera Man is the book worthy of Buster Keaton, that early cinema genius, action star, and esthete whose films, a hundred years after their release, have lost none of their hilarity. Disney Hegemony’s CGI battles look tired and dusty compared to Keaton’s stunts.

As the ambitious subtitle of her book (unfortunately only available in English) announces – “The Invention of the Twentieth Century” – Dana Stevens intends to do more than tell the life story of Keaton. She convincingly stages him as the protagonist of a cultural story, places him at the center of a narrative about the 1920s (and beyond), and sets the anarchy of early Hollywood in its political and economic context. There is so much to discover in this dense, rich, thoroughly absorbing book – not the least of which are Keaton’s feats, which are among the finest ever captured on film.

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