My Favorite History Books and Biographies

Maybe the best of the best

Hoping that it will prove beneficial to someone out there  I have here compiled here my favorite history books and biographies. I’ve been reading such fare pretty much since I got out of the cradle. I'm a life long student of history. Where appropriate  I’ve grouped together books that are by the same author -- as you’ll see in the first eight paragraphs. I’ve not written complete reviews of the books as there’s enough here to wade through as it is. I’ve also not linked the books — at least not yet — because frankly that's pretty time-consuming. If you’re interested in anything here (and I hope you are) it’s simple enough to find them and more detailed reviews as well. Hopefully this will nudge some people towards a book or two that they’ll find as edifying as I did. I’m admitting right up front: There are omissions. I scoured my bookshelves for titles but some books I no longer have and have slipped my mind. I’m sure within minutes of posting this I’ll kick myself for excluding something but there are over fifty titles here. So again I hope this inspires  you, dear reader, to read one of these wonderful books.

Adam Hochschild is my favorite history author. I’ve had the privilege of seeing him give book talks three times. He’s written three books that I consider masterpieces of historical writing: To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918;  American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis; and Spain In Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. I’ve also very much enjoyed three other books of his: King Leopold’s Ghost; Bury the Chains; and Rebel Cinderella. Simply put he’ a serious scholar who can write like a novelist. Well he generally takes on sobering topics he presents them with a writer’s flair and gives readers hope and inspiration often based on a hero or two who emerge in the telling.

Robert Caro is for me the grand master of biography. The first four volumes of his projected five-volume bio of Lyndon Johnson are unparalleled. Master of the Senate was for me particularly impressive. Caro actually moved to where Johnson grew up in West Texas to better write about him. For the final installment he lived for a time in Vietnam because of course that’s the country sent so many American bombs. He grills interview subjects getting the minutest details to better understand the big picture. I also revere his book Working, something of a writer’s autobiography. I’ve tackled the massive Powerbroker and been enthralled but needed a break from it. I’ll be back.

Over the course of four books Rick Perlstein detailed the rise of the modern conservative movement. Those four were all brilliant books: Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America; The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan and Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. Comprehensive, balanced  and surprisingly entertaining. Taken together they’ve helped me better understand the political landscape of the last sixty years and what we are facing today.

Erik Larson writes popular history that reads like great fiction. My favorites of his books are The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz; Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania; and In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. I look forward to reading each again.

Jeff Guinn has written two of the best contemporary history books I’ve ever read and on two topics of enduring fascination. Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. These are books that bring back to life two compelling if repellent individuals whose actions shocked the world. 

Richard Evans wrote the Third Reich Trilogy: The Coming of the Third Reich; The Third Reich in Power; and The Third Reich at War. Between them they are pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about Hitler’s regime. Page-turning history.

Two great books from Isabel Wilkerson: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.  In The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson chronicles the Great Migration through the lived experiences of Black Americans who fled the Jim Crow South in search of freedom and opportunity, revealing both the hope and hardship of that journey. In Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, she broadens the lens, arguing that the United States is shaped by an unspoken caste system that underlies racial inequality, drawing parallels with India and Nazi Germany. Together, the books are eye-opening looks at the Black experience in the U.S. and I wish more people would read them.

Doris Kearns Goodwin. Another popular historian her book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II won the Pulitzer Prize and is one of my favorite all-time books. She is also the author of Team of Rivals and Bully Pulpit both of which I enjoyed immensely. 

Barbara Tuchman Guns of August. It’s been awhile since I last read it. This is the book that helped me fall in love with reading history.

FDR by HW Brands. I’ve read many a book on Franklin Roosevelt but this the best one which is saying something given the quality of many of the bios about Roosevelt. 

King: A Life by Richard Eig. Not hagiography but an honest look at the great Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Will be the definitive book on King for years to come.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots by Alex Haley. The former is the amazing story of a former gangster who rose to become one of the most important and influential figures of the 20th century. The latter is one man’s story of where he came from.

Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power by Seth Rosenfield. uncovers how the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, secretly surveilled and sought to undermine the Free Speech Movement at the University of California Berkeley, while also tracing how these conflicts helped shape the political rise of the odious Ronald Reagan. It reveals a hidden history of government overreach and political maneuvering that influenced campus activism and, to an extent, national politics.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. After seeing the film of the same name I walked out of the theater into a bookstore and bought this, one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. It’s a great companion to the film and vice verse.

All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery by Henry Mayer. I had the privilege of knowing Henry at the time this excellent biography came out so I got to talk to him about it a real honor. Garrison was an amazing man and this book does him justice.

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark. The best author biography I’ve ever read. The word thorough doesn’t even begin to define this marvelous book. All the details are worth pouring through.

Watergate: A New History by Garrett Graff. I’ve read umpteen books on Watergate and this is the definitive and most comprehensive account. If you want to understand Watergate from a to zed, here’s your book.

All The President’s Men by Woodward and Bernstein. Like the movie it inspired their Washington Post reports to this real time history  is a seminal work in it’s field. Admittedly this is not technically history being written as events unfolded but it certainly serves as it now

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin. The story of Patty Hearst, her kidnapping, her abrupt conversion into a revolutionary, her time on the run, her arrest, trial and use of white privilege to avoid jail time have always fascinated me. For years I yearned for a book like this and what a delight when it came out and was as good as the subject necessitated. Amazing stuff, superbly written and illuminating.

Muse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets by Michael Korda traces the lives of British and American soldier-poets—like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon—to show how World War I shattered romantic ideals of war and gave rise to a new, starkly honest poetry shaped by trauma, disillusionment, and firsthand experience. I loved this book. It was heart-breaking and illuminating and even inspiring. 

Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot. I’ve bought this book four times. Once for me and three times as gifts. This is a kaleidoscopic look at San Francisco from the Summer of Love through the AIDS crisis. It encompasses such ionic figures as Harvey Milk, Janis Joplin, Jim Jones, Bill Walsh, Dianne Feinstein and the Zodiac killer. Fascinating times and this is the book that best sums them up.

Grant by Ron Chernow. Chernow has cranked out a half dozen or so popular biographies including ones on Alexander Hamilton (the inspiration of a noted musical) and George Washington. His book on Grant was the one I found most engaging and revelatory. I knew Grant rose from the ranks to be a great general and was subsequently a poor president but Chernow’s book filled in a lot of blanks and gave me a greater appreciation for Grant and the understanding that he wasn’t such a bad prez after all.

Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow by Leon Litwack. Not an easy read as it details some of the lynching that were — tragically — part of the Black experience in the South for nearly a hundred years. I found it indispensable when I was a teacher. Scholarly yet written with compassion.

The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II by David Nasaw. I only recently finished this excellent book that centers around the effects the “Good War” had on Americans, particularly of course, those who served. The war reverberated throughout the country for years after and as we see, PTSD is not a recent phenomenon.

Kent State: An American Tragedy by Brian Vandermark. Another book I only recently finished it is a granular but readable look at the murder of four students in May 1970, an event that to some marked the end of the Sixties. 

Heat Wave, Trumpy a Child Rapist, Content Creating and Influencing and More!!!! (Including Exclamation Points)

DTF St. Louis

I’m cranky because we’re on day five of a heat wave here in the Bay Area (and much of the West). Temperatures have been in the mid and even upper eighties. In March! According to experts on the topic this is almost certainly a direct result of global warming. Understanding this makes it even worse. I don’t like warm days let alone hot ones so this has been a rough five days for me. We need rain, we get record-breaking heat. Fuck that.

Speaking of irritating: people sharing their Wordle score, people lamenting their NCAA basketball brackets, people talking seriously about astrology, people talking about their golf game, men discussing cars. Just don’t, no one cares.

Yesterday Trumpy made a joke about Pearl Harbor in front to the Japanese prime minister who raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath. He’s an embarrassment.

Worse, he’s a child rapist. Representative Dan Goldman read an excerpt from the Epstein Files into the Congressional Record the other day. It’s the part where Trumpy is credibly alleged to have raped a girl who was between thirteen and fifteen years old. Our current president also is reported to have struck the girl and called her a “bitch.” This from a 2019 FBI interview where the victim described Trump saying 'let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be,' forcing her head toward his penis, punching her after she bit him, and calling her a 'bitch.' Goldman said the FBI deemed her account credible enough for a 21-page prosecutor briefing and accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of perjury for claiming no evidence of Trump crimes, citing Epstein's email calling Trump the 'dog that hasn't barked' and flight records contradicting Trump's denials. 

In other words the current president of the United States is a demonstrably horrible human being. (Yes, I realize you already knew that.)

BTW does anyone remember that the United States dropped a bomb on an elementary school in Iran killing close to 200 people doubtless most of them children? Has that already been forgotten? Because you know when that should be forgotten? Never.

Have you ever found yourself sitting around with nothing to do and wished there was more content? Of course. Fear not, for we have content creators. Say what, now? How the hell does one “create” “content?” Here’s what Wikipedia has to say: “Content creation is the act of producing (and sharing) information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. A content creator is the person behind such works.” As I understand it such content is often videos, memes, photos and the like. Things you might find on Instagram and TikTok and other social media platforms. What did we ever do before there was “content?”

(Say wait a second, don’t books, magazines and newspapers qualify as content?)

Okay so let’s assume you have sufficient “content.” How do you decide what to like? What do you select of the dizzying array of choices? Fear not for in addition to content creators we have….influencers! Let’s go to the dictionary for help on this one: "a person who has become well known through regular social media posts and is able to promote a product or service by recommending or using it online.” So go out and find yourself some influencers to be influenced by so that you’ll not what to like, what to buy, what to wear, maybe even what to think. Why bother thinking for yourself when others will do it for you?

It should be noted that you too can be a content creator or an influencer (maybe both?). You can make money at it too! What a world we live in.

Speaking of television….The missus and I are very much enjoying two shows on HBO (or are supposed to call it, Max like it’s the neighbor’s dog?): Rooster and St. Louis DTF. The former stars Steve Carrell who’s reliably good and the latter features Jason Bateman. Mr. Bateman has appeared in two brilliant TV programs, Ozark and last year’s Black Rabbit. He knows how to pick his parts and he makes those parts better.  Next time someone tells me that Jason Bateman is in a TV series I’m just going to ask: what channel and what day and time? Money in the bank.

Meanwhile John Oliver, Seth Meyers and Jon Stewart are doing the lord’s work on their respective shows, looking at the insanity of the world and keeping us laughing in the bargain. 

That’s it from me for today. If you’ll excuse me I’m going to look for some content and see if I can be influenced. 

The Greatest Decade of Major League Baseball was... (Drum Roll, Please) The Sixties, I Make My Case

Frank Robinson and Willie Mays

From pretty much the time I could walk until about ten years ago I was an avid baseball fan, particularly enamored of the San Francisco Giants. But old dogs can learn new tricks and lifelong tastes and preferences can change. I barely pay the slightest attention to the National Pastime anymore and haven’t been out to the ball yard in several years. My obsession now is with proper football (soccer to you Yanks) particularly the variety played in England and most especially by my favorite club, Arsenal.

Despite this greatly diminished interest in baseball I still love stories about its past and know a fair amount of history of the game. In days of yore I regularly read books about baseball history including biographies of players and stories of eras, games and seasons. I know a lot of baseball trivia and can name the World Series winner from most seasons.

All this is to say that while I’m not a leading authority, I’m qualified to write this post which is based on a conversation I had with a fellow connoisseur of the game's storied past. It was my contention that the best decade of baseball was the 1960s. There is some inherent bias in my believing  this n because I came of age as a baseball fan in the Sixties. We often put a golden hue around the time we grew up. But I have sound reasons. On with it.

Previous decades can be eliminated right off because the game was not integrated. Integration began in the late forties and continued through the fifties. By the mid-1960s integration was essentially complete and the number of African-American players in the majors was far higher than it is today. Not only were blacks from the fifty states playing but also Latins from places like the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

There were games on the West Coast making it a truly national game with teams in San Francisco, Los Angeles and later Anaheim.

The 1960s were not dominated by a team or two or three as it has been in other decades. Seven different teams won the World Series (Pirates, Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, Orioles, Tigers, Mets). True the Yankees won the first five American League pennants but four other teams won the next five  (Twins, Orioles (two), Tigers and Red Sox). Meanwhile in the National League six teams won the pennant — The Pirates, Reds, Giants and Mets once and the Dodgers and Cardinals three times each. So there were perennial winners (which is good for the games) but no one running roughshod over the game like the Yankees did in the fifties for example, which I think is bad for the game.

There was expansion in the sixties but the biggest was not until the last year, thus the game’s talent pool had not yet been diluted. There were excellent players on all teams and some (as I’ll note later) were rife with some of the game’s greats. 

The age of the cookie cutter stadium and abominable Astro turf fields had not yet marred the game. There were still some of the game’s grand ole ballparks in use such as Crosley Field, Forbes Field, Connie Mack Stadium, old Tiger Stadium, the original Yankee Stadium and of course Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

There were several compelling World Series in the decade. Six of ten went seven games (’60, ’62, ’64, ’65, ’67 and ’68). 1960 ended with a walk off home run. 1962 ended with a one-run game. The see-saw 1964 series was dramatic enough to inspire David Halberstam’s New York Times bestseller October 1964. The 1969 series only went five games but was one of the greatest upsets in Series history.

The decade had some great pennant races. The NL race in 1962 went down to and past the wire necessitating a playoff that the Giants won over the Dodgers in a come-from-behind game three. The ’64 NL race was a wild free-for-all featuring four teams. The ’67 AL race was also dramatic and featured the Red Sox Impossible Dream team. Other races throughout the decade were also close.

There was no designated hitter. Baseball has been forever tarnished by the addition of the DH. In the sixties pitchers batted. They also completed their work. There were an average of between 700-750 complete games a season in the majors that decades. By comparison last year there were twenty-nine by all teams combined. We did not get an endless procession of relief pitchers; games moved right along — without a damn clock.

(Worth noting: In 1968 Juan Marichal threw 325 innings. Last season the Giants Logan Webb led the majors in innings pitched with 207. For the math challenged that's a different of 118 innings.)

But what really made the 1960s baseball’s best decade was the amazing number of superstars who played in those ten years. Forty-one members of baseball’s Hall of Fame played in at least five of the decade’s ten seasons. This includes the likes of Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie McCovey, Lou Brock, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Ferguson Jenkins and Whitey Ford. A few others played three seasons, Johnny Bench, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson and Tom Seaver. Nolan Ryan played for four of the years. In total sixty-nine Hall of Famers played at least one season in the decade. There were some of the game's greatest sluggers and some of baseball's greatest pitchers.

(In at least one game — played on July 2, 1963 between the Giants and the Braves—  there were nine Hall of Famers on the field. From San Francisco: Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and in relief Gaylord Perry. From Milwaukee: Aaron, Mathews, Spahn and Joe Torre.)

Final note: The decade featured the person who, for me (after Babe Ruth), is the greatest player of all time playing at his peak: Willie Mays.

During the decade 1960–1969, Mays:

Hit 350 home runs

Scored 1,011 runs

Stole 179 bases

Won 8 Gold Gloves

Made 10 All-Star teams

Most remarkably, he averaged roughly: 35 home runs and 100 runs scored per season while playing elite center field. To put that in perspective: Many Hall of Fame sluggers never hit 350 home runs in their entire careers. Mays did it in one decade. And this wasn’t just a hitter padding numbers in a hitter’s park. He did it while playing half his games at Candlestick Park, which was notoriously difficult for hitters because of: cold winds, swirling air currents and deep power alleys.

What makes the 1960s special is that Mays wasn’t alone. At the same time you had: Hank Aaron quietly piling up historic numbers, Roberto Clemente redefining right-field defense, Sandy Koufax producing one of the most dominant pitching peaks ever, Denny McClain winning a remarkable 30 games in 1968 while in that same season Bob Gibson boasted an incredible 1.12 ERA.

The 1960s were one of the rare periods in baseball history where multiple all-time legends were performing at their peak simultaneously. That overlap of greatness is a big part of why I maintain that the 1960s is the greatest decade in baseball history.

A Happy Jack Kerouac's Birthday, More Birthday Wishes and Other Stuff

Jack Kerouac played a little football at Columbia

Happy Jack Kerouac’s birthday everyone! As long time readers of this blog know (I’m looking at you Antoninus Bottomlicker of Lambertville, New Jersey) I am a huge Kerouac fan (actually not true, I am of average height and weight). I’ve consumed all his novels, many of them multiple times. I’ve also read his letters, journals and biographies about him. Yay Jack!

It is also Liza Minelli’s birthday in fact it’s her 80th. I revere Ms. Minelli mostly for her role in Cabaret which I consider one of the greatest films ever made (currently ranked number twenty-two in my top 100). It’s not a film without her just as it isn’t without Joel Grey and maybe not as good a one without Michael York. It was the performance of a lifetime. She’s been in other films TV shows and the like that I’ve enjoyed (particularly her turn in Arrested Development) but Cabaret alone puts her in a hall of fame. I’m not sure what hall of fame but there’s got to be one that suits her.

There is yet another birthday of note today, that of Barbara Feldon who is probably less recognizable to you young kids. Ms. Feldon is 93 today (you go girl). She’s primarily known for her role as Agent 86 — or was she 99? — in the TV series Get Smart which aired in the mid sixties. Ms. Feldon managed to combine sexiness with being flat out funny. I can do it too if pressed. (Honestly I can.)

Speaking of actresses ….Recently Darryl Hannah had a piece in the OP-Ed section of the New York Times. In it she quite justifiably lambasted the makers of a recent docudrama about the romance between JFK Jr. and his wife. Ms. Hannah was portrayed in a most  unflattering light which was galling because there was no need for them to do it. They could have easily made up an actress who behaved egregiously instead of sullying the name of a woman who is highly respected both for her acting and her philanthropic efforts. I understand Mr. Hannah is loathe to respond to critics, liars and mudslingers but felt this instance warranted a response. Sadly the stupid little film has done its damage and in the minds of many Mr. Hannah is the awful person portrayed on screen. Assholes.

The above is, relatively speaking, a first world problem in a world rife with third world problems and quite serious ones as well. See the latest episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight (aired Sunday March 8) about the massive cuts by the Trumpy organization to the USAID organization which has done so much good in the world especially in impoverished areas. It is estimated that already hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of these cuts. Meanwhile the U.S. is making even more and stronger enemies with it’s unprovoked war in Iran which has featured bombing a school in which 175 were killed many of them children. I think that bears repeating. The U.S. bombed a school killing 175 people many — likely most — of them CHILDREN. Assholes.

Not going to end this on that downer, instead I’ll repeat my wish that you all have a Happy Jack Kerouac’s birthday.

Chat GPT Analyzes My Top Films and Does a Very Good Job

His Girl Friday (1940) Hawks

Like many people I’m wary of ChatGPT and other forms of AI. But I do find it helpful in research and I’ve also had some interesting “conversations” with it. Yesterday I fed it my top 100 films and asked what these films taken together say about my tastes in film.*

It replied: “You’ve put together a serious cinephile list—and it’s unusually coherent. A lot of  ‘Top 100’ lists wander stylistically, but yours reveals several very clear preferences about storytelling, tone, and cinematic tradition.”

I took that as a compliment. But of course there was more: “You Strongly Prefer Director-Driven Cinema

This may be the single most obvious pattern.

Many directors appear multiple times:

Ingmar Bergman – 6 films

Woody Allen – 5 films

Federico Fellini – 4 films

Alfred Hitchcock – 5 films

Scorsese – 4 films

Kubrick – 3 films

Coen Brothers – 3 films

Ford – 3 films

Tarantino – 3 films

Rossellini – 2

Chaplin – 2

De Sica – 2

Kaurismäki – 3

This tells me something important:

You don’t think of movies as isolated works—you think in terms of a director’s worldview.

That’s how critics and serious film lovers tend to watch films.

You are basically practicing auteur cinema appreciation.”

Still spot on. What else? 

“You Value Moral and Existential Seriousness

Your list leans heavily toward films wrestling with:

moral responsibility, guilt, faith, existential loneliness and historical trauma.

Examples:

Winter Light

The Seventh Seal

Persona

Through a Glass Darkly

Come and See

Au Revoir Les Enfants

Battle of Algiers

Taxi Driver

Raging Bull

A Woman Under the Influence

You clearly like films where characters face spiritual or ethical crises, not just plot problems.

This aligns perfectly with your admiration for Bergman, Scorsese, and Dostoevskian themes.”

You’re nailing it. Tell me more.

“A surprising amount of your list has a bittersweet or mournful tone.

Examples:

The Last Picture Show

Inside Llewyn Davis

Manhattan

Drive My Car

The Ice Storm

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Barry Lyndon

Umberto D

Bicycle Thieves

Local Hero

Even your comedies are melancholy comedies.

This is extremely characteristic of people who love:

Bergman

Allen

Kaurismäki

Antonioni

You like films where life feels fragile, fleeting, and slightly sad.”

Couldn’t agree more. But do go on….

“You Love Classic Hollywood Craft

Despite loving art cinema, you deeply appreciate the golden age.

Major presence of:

Hawks

Ford

Wilder

Capra

Hitchcock

Sturges

Cukor

Curtiz

And films like:

His Girl Friday

Casablanca

The Lady Eve

Holiday

The Big Sleep

This tells me something key:

You’re not an elitist art-house viewer.

You appreciate great storytelling regardless of era or prestige.”

Okay, let’s have the rest of it:

“You Favor Character Studies Over Plot Machines

Notice what is largely absent:

superhero films

spectacle franchises

puzzle-box movies

action blockbusters

Instead you love films where the entire movie is about a person.

Examples:

Raging Bull

Taxi Driver

Barry Lyndon

A Woman Under the Influence

Inside Llewyn Davis

Drive My Car

Umberto D

Persona

Your taste says:

Character psychology is more important than narrative mechanics.

6. You Love European Cinema

A massive portion of your list is European.

Especially:

Sweden

Bergman

Troell

Italy

Fellini

Rossellini

De Sica

France

Malle

Denis

Kassovitz

Finland

Kaurismäki

Poland

Polanski

Russia

Tarkovsky

Germany

Murnau

You gravitate toward philosophical cinema rather than purely narrative cinema.

7. You Appreciate Humor With Intelligence

Your comedy choices are very telling:

Duck Soup

Sullivan’s Travels

The Lady Eve

My Man Godfrey

His Girl Friday

The Big Lebowski

Rushmore

These are fast, literate comedies.

You prefer:

wit

irony

social observation

over broad humor.

8. You Are Comfortable With Slow Cinema

Your list includes films that many viewers struggle with:

Stalker

L’Eclisse

Beau Travail

Drive My Car

Barry Lyndon

This means you value:

mood

visual language

pacing

You don’t need constant plot movement.

9. You Like Films About Artists or Storytellers

Another subtle pattern.

Examples:

8½

Inside Llewyn Davis

Manhattan

Sunset Boulevard

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

These are films about creative people trying to understand their lives.

Not surprising given you’re a novelist.

10. You Like Moral Ambiguity

Many of your favorite films center on ethically compromised characters:

Goodfellas

Chinatown

Taxi Driver

Match Point

No Country for Old Men

Barry Lyndon

You seem drawn to stories where:

The line between right and wrong becomes blurry.

That’s very consistent with the themes you’ve discussed in your own writing.

One Particularly Interesting Thing

Your list balances three traditions beautifully:

1. Classic Hollywood craft
(Hawks, Ford, Wilder)

2. European philosophical cinema
(Bergman, Antonioni, Tarkovsky)

3. American New Hollywood
(Scorsese, Coppola, Ashby)

That combination is the core canon of serious film culture.

If I Had to Summarize Your Taste in One Sentence

You favor director-driven films that explore moral, psychological, and existential questions through strong characters, often with a tone of melancholy and intelligence.”

The discussion went on from there but I’ll add one more observation from my artificially intelligent friend: 

“One more thing I noticed that’s fascinating about your list:

Your #1 film — His Girl Friday — is tonally the opposite of almost everything else in your top ten.

Yet it actually reveals something deep about your taste.

If you want, I can explain why that choice makes perfect sense psychologically with the rest of your list. It’s actually quite revealing.

Your choice of #1 — His Girl Friday initially looks like an outlier. Most of your top films are serious, contemplative, or tragic. Hawks’s film is the opposite: fast, funny, cynical, and light on the surface.

But when you look more carefully, it actually fits your taste perfectly.

Here’s why.

1. You Like Intelligence Above Everything

The defining trait of His Girl Friday is intelligence.

The dialogue moves faster than almost any film ever made. Characters succeed through:

wit

verbal dexterity

quick thinking

That same trait appears throughout your list:

Chinatown

The Big Lebowski

Annie Hall

Rushmore

Your films often feature sharp, observant protagonists navigating complicated worlds.

2. Cynicism Mixed With Humanity

His Girl Friday is deeply cynical about institutions:

politics

journalism

the justice system

That worldview runs all through your list:

Chinatown

Taxi Driver

No Country for Old Men

The Battle of Algiers

You clearly like films that say:

The world is flawed, but human beings still struggle within it.

3. Dialogue as Music

You respond strongly to language-driven cinema.

Many of your favorites are talk-heavy films:

My Dinner with Andre style filmmaking (even though it’s not on your list)

The Last Picture Show

Manhattan

Drive My Car

His Girl Friday is essentially pure dialogue cinema.

4. Moral Ambiguity

Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is charming—but ethically slippery.

That morally complicated protagonist appears constantly in your list:

Barry Lyndon

Match Point

Goodfellas

You seem fascinated by people who are brilliant but morally questionable.

5. It’s the Pure Joy Film on Your List

Almost all great cinephile lists contain one film chosen for sheer delight.

For you, that appears to be His Girl Friday.

Even viewers who love:

Bergman

Tarkovsky

Antonioni

often keep a few films around that simply make them happy every time.”

Thank you very much for your insights ChatGPT. You’ve affirmed a lot of what I thought of myself as a film lover and also given me insights into why I revere certain films, certain types of films and particular directors. Good chat!

*(Please note my comments in italics are for this blog post and were not included in the actual chat.)