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Charlie Chaplin vs. America

When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided

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Charlie Chaplin vs. America

By: Scott Eyman
Narrated by: Phil Thron
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About this listen

The “shocking” (The Wall Street Journal), must-listen story of Charlie Chaplin’s years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare, and how it ruined his film career, from bestselling biographer Scott Eyman.

Bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin’s fall from grace. In the aftermath of World War II, Chaplin was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist in outlook. He had never become a US citizen, something that would be held against him as xenophobia set in when the postwar Red Scare took hold.

Politics aside, Chaplin had another problem: his sexual interest in young women. He had been married three times and had had numerous affairs. In the 1940s, he was the subject of a paternity suit, which he lost, despite blood tests that proved he was not the father. His sexuality became a convenient way for those who opposed his politics to condemn him. Refused permission to return to the US after a trip abroad, he settled in Switzerland and made his last two films in London.

In Charlie Chaplin vs. America, Scott Eyman explores the life and times of the movie genius who brought us such masterpieces as City Lights and Modern Times. “One of the finest surveys of the man and the artist ever written” (Leonard Maltin) this book is “a sobering account of cancel culture in action.” (The Economist).

©2023 Scott Eyman (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio
Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism

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A singular artist

Shaped by a world as harsh and stark of colour as his early features, Charlie Chaplin's journey as an artist was explored with sympathy and with intriguing anecdotes.
Thrust into a pseudo-patriotic theatre spectacle, and cast as a villain, the reality was for him, it was always about the art - and the next film.

This biography explores Charlie's life, without posing or hypothesising on motive or drawing too many conclusions, allowing the listener to consider the implications and ways in which the events manifested in his art.

A worthy read for anyone interested in Charlie Chaplin, and the Hollywood of the middle century.

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