Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration

Cultural historian Thomas Doherty recounts the untold tale of the man who dictated "final cut" over more movies than anyone in the history of American cinema. Empowered by industry insiders and millions of like-minded Catholics, Joseph I. Breen oversaw the editing of A-list feature films, low-budget B movies, short subjects, previews of coming attractions, and even cartoons. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Catholic priests, Jewish moguls, visionary auteurs, hardnosed journalists, and bluenose agitators, Doherty's insightful, behind-the-scenes portrait brings a tumultuous era& mdash;and an individual both feared and admired-to vivid life.

The New York Times - Ada Calhoun

…thanks to this surprisingly entertaining and rigorous biography of Breen…it's now clear why Hollywood's self-censorship was inevitable and even cunning…Miraculously, [Doherty] makes the censor who took "sweater girls" as a personal affront, tried to keep politics off the screen even after Pearl Harbor and insisted that Greta Garbo be "kept away entirely from the bed"…seem less like a buzz-kill and more like a man who loved Hollywood, God and country, and spent 20 years trying to reconcile them.

Thomas Doherty is professor of American studies at Brandeis University. He serves on the editorial board of Cineaste and is the author of Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture; Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934; Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II; and Teenagers and Teenpics: The Juvenilization of American Movies in the 1950s.