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This is it! Casablanca, the whole thing. With equanimity, grace, and delectable insight, Noah Isenberg has untangled the intricate, often contentious collaboration that flowered into America's favorite movie. I bet even the die-hardest Casablanca fan will find in this delightful book new ways to love the movie they were certain they could never love more. -- Sam Wasson, best-selling author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.

We'll Always Have Casablanca is sparkling and effervescent, rich and gimlet-eyed, and, most of all, utterly addicting... Noah Isenberg's superb book both expands our understanding of the movie's history and place in our cultural history and reminds us, fervently, why we fell in love with it in the first place. -- Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me Noah Isenberg's thoroughly researched and well-written book brings new perspectives to the one movie that is on every American's playlist. This book is the perfect companion for the viewing experience. -- Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine Immensely delightful and engaging, We'll Always Have Casablanca pursues the story of the Moby Dick of movies with the passion, acumen, and dexterity of a seasoned historian in dazzling command of the narrative craft. -- Yunte Huang, author of Charlie Chan Here's looking at you, Noah Isenberg! Never has Casablanca and the world it remakes with every screening been better loved, more meticulously illuminated, or more globally needed. We'll Always Have Casablanca reminds us that freedom begins anew each time we put ourselves aside and join the fight. -- David Michaelis, author of Schulz and Peanuts Far more than a nostalgic journey, We'll Always Have Casablanca makes clear how Casablanca's themes of war and exile and romantic self-sacrifice distilled the brutal realities of 1942, and mirrored the personal experiences of many of the film's makers, to create an entertainment of profound and enduring emotional resonance. -- Geoffrey O'Brien, author of Sonata for Jukebox Somehow both scholarly and sprightly, Noah Isenberg's prismatic portrait of Casablanca manages to inform even as it delights. This rigorous, rollicking book shows us the ways that familiar tale has continued to shift in meaning and expand in scope as time goes by. -- Dana Stevens, Slate film critic This is it! Casablanca, the whole thing. With equanimity, grace, and delectable insight, Noah Isenberg has untangled the intricate, often contentious collaboration that flowered into America's favorite movie. I bet even the die-hardest Casablanca fan will find in this delightful book new ways to love the movie they were certain they could never love more. -- Sam Wasson, author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.

[W]hether you're a Casablanca devotee or just a film-history buff, the story of how the iconic movie got made and what the world made of it is downright fascinating, an absolute page-turner, even as a kind of narrative nonfiction thriller. -- Booklist (starred review) We'll Always Have Casablanca is sparkling and effervescent, rich and gimlet-eyed, and, most of all, utterly addicting... Noah Isenberg's superb book both expands our understanding of the movie's history and place in our cultural history and reminds us, fervently, why we fell in love with it in the first place. -- Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me Noah Isenberg's thoroughly researched and well-written book brings new perspectives to the one movie that is on every American's playlist. This book is the perfect companion for the viewing experience. -- Jeanine Basinger, author of The Star Machine Immensely delightful and engaging, We'll Always Have Casablanca pursues the story of the Moby Dick of movies with the passion, acumen, and dexterity of a seasoned historian in dazzling command of the narrative craft. -- Yunte Huang, author of Charlie Chan Here's looking at you, Noah Isenberg! Never has Casablanca and the world it remakes with every screening been better loved, more meticulously illuminated, or more globally needed. We'll Always Have Casablanca reminds us that freedom begins anew each time we put ourselves aside and join the fight. -- David Michaelis, author of Schulz and Peanuts Far more than a nostalgic journey, We'll Always Have Casablanca makes clear how Casablanca's themes of war and exile and romantic self-sacrifice distilled the brutal realities of 1942, and mirrored the personal experiences of many of the film's makers, to create an entertainment of profound and enduring emotional resonance. -- Geoffrey O'Brien, author of Sonata for Jukebox Somehow both scholarly and sprightly, Noah Isenberg's prismatic portrait of Casablanca manages to inform even as it delights. This rigorous, rollicking book shows us the ways that familiar tale has continued to shift in meaning and expand in scope as time goes by. -- Dana Stevens, Slate film critic This is it! Casablanca, the whole thing. With equanimity, grace, and delectable insight, Noah Isenberg has untangled the intricate, often contentious collaboration that flowered into America's favorite movie. I bet even the die-hardest Casablanca fan will find in this delightful book new ways to love the movie they were certain they could never love more. -- Sam Wasson, author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.

Isenberg gives us . . . a rich miscellany of material that will delight fans of both the film and Hollywood's golden era. His research is clearly second to none. -- Lucy Scholes - Times Literary Supplement Combining trenchant analysis of the film's poetic and political power with a well-researched and playful account of its legacy, We'll Always Have Casablanca is a necessary book and perhaps even an urgent one. -- Noah Gittell - Los Angeles Review of Books Fascinating, packed with fun trivia . . . but also profoundly relevant in [its exploration] of how our politics and creative industries not only hold a mirror to each other but also to the nation. -- Rebecca Prime - Los Angeles Times We'll Always Have Casablanca is a hugely readable and entertaining look at how Casablanca came to be, and how it came to be such an indelible part of American pop culture. -- Chris Foran - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel A treasure trove of facts and anecdotes. -- Peter Biskind - New York Times Book Review Four out of four stars. . . . A lively account of the making of the 1942 Warner Bros. classic and why it has endured as 'Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie.' -- Bill Desowitz - USA Today A treasure trove of information . . . but also everything else you could ask for: the fascinating process of coming up with the script, the cast's relation on the set,and the movie's long afterlife in popular culture, right down to the latest SNL parody. Noah Isenberg has produced a delightful page-turner of a book, perfect for every movie fan. -- David Mikics - Tablet As Noah Isenberg details in his excellent new book We'll Always Have Casablanca, the 1942 film is a case study of how history gets depicted for popular entertainment, but it is also a powerful example of how the Hollywood machine produced work that intersected with political commitment while still holding fast to its romantic conventions. -- Michael S. Roth - Chronicle of Higher Education

Combining trenchant analysis of the film's poetic and political power with a well-researched and playful account of its legacy, We'll Always Have Casablanca is a necessary book and perhaps even an urgent one. -- Noah Gittell - Los Angeles Review of Books Fascinating, packed with fun trivia ... but also profoundly relevant in [its exploration] of how our politics and creative industries not only hold a mirror to each other but also to the nation. -- Rebecca Prime - Los Angeles Times Observant and astute ... Isenberg makes some insightful contributions to Casablanca lore. -- Gerald Bartell - The Washington Post A treasure trove of facts and anecdotes. -- Peter Biskind - New York Times Book Review Four out of four stars... Isenberg's great contribution is tying together the production [of Casablanca] and its legacy. -- Bill Desowitz - USA Today Noah Isenberg brings an appropriate passion to his pop analysis of [Casablanca], along with a delight of details and some savvy reassessments. -- John Anderson - Newsday Hugely entertaining and insightful... Isenberg has produced a delightful page-turner of a book. -- David Mikics - Tablet We ll Always Have Casablanca is a hugely readable and entertaining look at how Casablanca came to be, and how it came to be such an indelible part of American pop culture. -- Chris Foran - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Author Information

Noah Isenberg is professor and chair of the department of radio-television-film at the University of Texas at Austin, the author of We'll Always Have Casablanca, Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins, editor of Weimar Cinema, and the recipient of an NEH Public Scholar Award.

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