City of Nets

Giving this a rating even though it was a DNF at 20%. A somewhat disappointing trudge through 1940's Hollywood. Friedrich provides a chaotic chronology that bears little relation to the previous subject matter. For example, he mentions the screenwriting battle between Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles on Citizen Kane and then delves into Bertolt Brecht. I'm sure Brecht's influence is remarkable, but I would have preferred more stories that dealt with what happened behind the scenes.

Also, for a book about Hollywood in the 1940's it really isn't about it at all. We don't get enough of what actually happened in 1940's Hollywood. How was the city growing and changing? What industries made Hollywood click besides movies? And what impact did the movie industry have on Hollywood as a whole? Not covered here. What was Hollywood as a city and a factory-like in the pre-war era? Not covered here.