About
Chris Yogerst is associate professor of communication, Department of Arts and Humanities, at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He is author of "From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros." (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). His most recent book is "Hollywood Hates Hitler: Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation Into Warmongering in Motion Pictures" (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). In addition, Yogerst regularly writes for the popular press such as the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Washington Post, and the Hollywood Reporter.
Featured Work
Hollywood Hates Hitler: Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation into Warmongering in Motion Pictures
HOLLYWOOD HATES HITLER investigates how a handful of isolationist United States senators tried to prevent Hollywood “anti-Nazi propaganda,” reflected in such movies as “The Great Dictator” and “The Mortal Storm.” This political film history examines the 1941 Senate subcommittee’s investigation of alleged efforts by Jewish studio heads to agitate for war. Yogerst shows how the hearing’s results were an embarrassment for the Senate and a victory for freedom of speech.
Other Works
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From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros.
2016
Awards and Recognition
- 2021-2022 Fellow: UW-Madison Institute for Research in the Humanities
Press and Media Mentions
- 100 Years Ago: How Hollywood’s Early Self-Censorship Battles Shaped the MPA. Pressures from social reformers during an "era of scandal" led the industry to self-regulate by creating the organization in 1922 and paving the way for a Production Code that impacted film content and satisfied many anti-Hollywood activists for nearly two decades.
- When Hollywood Was Punished for Its Anti-Nazism. Ken Burns' commendable new PBS doc series 'The U.S. and the Holocaust' overlooks a key Senate investigation that marked a crescendo of anti-entertainment-industry sentiment that walked hand in hand with America’s antisemitism.
- Why Brendan Fraser's Hollywood comeback story is both warming hearts and raising ire
- When the US Government Went After Anti-Nazi Hollywood
- When Democratic Senators Collaborated With American Nazis to Stop Hollywood From Taking on Hitler
- Senators are targeting Hollywood over ‘Cuties’ and China. They should avoid these mistakes.
