Spike Lee's America

David Sterritt is Chair of the National Society of Film Critics and Professor at Columbia University and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

• Acknowledgements viiiIntroduction: Challenging Questions, No Easy Answers 11 The Early Joints 132 The Right Thing and the Love Supreme 413 Deeper into Politics 904 Brownstones in the Nabe, Projects in the Hood 1175 Women and Men, Blacks and Whites 1356 Crime, War, Miracles 167Epilogue: Expanding Horizons 190Notes 194Filmography 203References 229Index 245

"Though he comes to praise Lee's oeuvre, Sterrit is even-handed with both critics and director."—The Independent"Respectful, refreshingly passionate, colloquial at times, but with keen eye for accurate criticism and shrewd analysis"—Media International Australia"Perfectly readable, mercifully free of cliched characterisations of the director as an 'angry black man' - and informative enough to recommend as a reference tool for Spike beginners."—Sight & Sound"Writing perceptively about class, race and recent US history (as well as the movies) Sterritt steers refreshingly far from the academic waffle that can plague this kind of book, and builds a reasoned portrait of one of America's punchiest commentators."—Total Film"An optimal introduction to the career of one of America's most prominent filmmakers."—25fps"Not just an interesting read, the book is also a great educational resource for film students, and a truly excellent map for exploring one of the major genres of African-American film-making."—Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"My admiration for Spike Lee has always been substantial, but thanks to this book I now admire him even more. Although David Sterritt does not blink at the many dilemmas the films present, he has greatly enriched our appreciation as well as our understanding of Spike Lee's cinema."—Krin Gabbard, Stony Brook University"Since his filmmaking debut in the mid-eighties, Spike Lee has become one of the most influential African American directors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through clear and cogent prose, David Sterritt also illustrates what makes Lee one of the finest American filmmakers working today."—Paula Massood, Brooklyn College