Hollywood High

“An essential contribution … [Handy] writes with the lively appreciation of a fan rather than with condescension or academic pedantry, combining astute cultural analysis with fascinating trivia. [He] expertly weaves together 90 years of screen stories with their off-screen inspirations and echos.”
—Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal
“A well-informed conversation starter that takes an often-maligned genre seriously … good, smart, occasionally naughty adolescent fun.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Astute and spirited … [Handy] is a clear-eyed critic.”
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic
“A wildly entertaining chronicle of the films that have portrayed and defined America teenage-dom.”
—Vanity Fair
“Filled with fascinating details … Hollywood High is an absolute delight.”
—Nell Minow, rogerebert.com
“Well-informed and wonderfully subjective … A thoroughly entertaining and fascinating look at some of the United States’ favorite teen movies.”
—Library Journal
“Dishy and droll, Bruce Handy’s Hollywood High is a total blast, an insightful, beautifully written investigation into the origins of the teen film, from bobby-soxers to juvenile delinquents, Plastics to vampire victims. A satisfying blend of shrewd critical analysis and Tinseltown scuttlebutt.”
—Emily Nussbaum, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for criticism and author of Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV
“As fun as it is smart, as deeply researched as it is charming, Hollywood High’s the definitive work on a quintessentially American movie genre. Bruce Handy provides the juicy gossip and deeper resonances of every film in the canon––from the middle-class middle-American utopia of the blockbuster Andy Hardy franchise during the Great Depression and World War II to the dystopia of the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise of our present era. An illuminating pleasure.”
—Kurt Andersen, cocreator of Command Z and author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire
“You don’t need to be a teenager to admire this smart, funny, and altogether original take on teen movies that turns out to be a riveting cultural history. Handy convincingly elevates the genre to that of the western as a purveyor of national myths.”
—Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Pandora’s Box
PRAISE FOR WILD THINGS:

“A terrific rumpus of a journey into the world of illustrated and young reader classics … Wild Things makes a convincing case for reading children’s books as an adult.” —The A.V. Club

Bruce Handy is a journalist, critic, humorist, and children’s book author. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and The Atlantic, among other publications. His book Wild Things: The Joys of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult was published in 2017. He is also the author of five picture books, including The Happiness of a Dog with a Ball in Its Mouth and What If One Day…, both of which were named New York Times Best Children’s Books. He began his career as a writer and editor at Spy magazine, and also spent a season (1992–1993) writing for Saturday Night Live.

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