Hello,
I just wanted to let the community here know that I just published a new book on the Duke called John Wayne's World. The book examines Wayne's popularity around the world in the 1950s, asking why so many different cultures loved the Duke and what his popularity tells us about Hollywood and globalization in the 1950s. I talk about a lot of the major releases between Red River and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but I also discuss some of the lesser known works that Wayne shot abroad (The Barbarian and the Geisha (shot in Japan) and Legend of the Lost (shot in Italy and north Africa)). It's an academic book, so it is written primarily for other historians of cinema and the 1950s, but I'd like to think that is would be enjoyable for a general audience too, especially Wayne fans!
If anyone takes a look at it, I'd love to hear what other Wayne fans have to say about it. I'm a film historian at the University of Idaho, but I'm very interested in popular pleasures--why certain kinds of movies or stars become so important to a culture.
Thanks!
