Oscar Wars

Fascinating book about the Academy Awards that reads like a series of taut short stories. Schulman focuses on 11 Oscar nights that reflected or inspired significant changes in Hollywood. Pivotal events include the rise of the “talkies” in the late 1920s, the blacklisted writers of the 50s, and the infamously horrible 1989 award ceremony opening number featuring a warbling Rob Lowe and Snow White. Not to mention 2015's #OscarsSoWhite, and the cringeworthy La La Land/Moonlight debacle of 2017.

Schulman gives life to actors, writers, producers, and directors whose ambitions, dreams and grudges played out behind the scenes and in front of the curtain. So well done that I would eagerly read a follow-up book that covered all of the Oscar nights that Schulman left out.