Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided

Charlie Chaplin was a movie genius who brought us masterpieces like City Lights and Modern Times, but his years of exile from the United States during the postwar Red Scare ruined his film career. He was criticized for being politically liberal and internationalist, and his sexual interest in young women became a convenient way for those who opposed his politics to condemn him. He settled in Switzerland and made his last two films in London.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 23 November 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Bestselling Hollywood biographer and film historian Scott Eyman tells the story of Charlie Chaplin's fall from grace. In the aftermath of World War Two, 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 from a trip abroad, he settled in Switzerland, and made his last two films in London.

In Charlie Chaplin vs. America, bestselling author Scott Eyman explores the life and times of the movie genius who brought us such masterpieces as City Lights and Modern Times. This is a perceptive, insightful portrait of Chaplin and of an America consumed by political turmoil.

Weight: 660g
Dimension: 169 x 246 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781982176358