Bloody Crossroads 2020 Hardcover by Danny Goldberg

Product Details

• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd. (2021-11-09)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 280 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781617759796
• Item Weight: 567.0 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

A deep dive into the role that mass-appeal movies, television, videos, and music played in Donald Trump’s failed reelection campaign, including brand-new interviews with some of the major players.

“A cleareyed overview of the modern interaction of culture and politics.” —Kirkus Reviews

Bloody Crossroads 2020 takes a deep dive into the role that mass-appeal movies, television, videos, and music played in America’s political culture in the year of Donald Trump’s failed reelection campaign. The book also explores the impact of entertainment celebrities in communications, fundraising, and campaigning to support the election of Joe Biden.

Although there existed a decades-old tradition of “liberal Hollywood,” Trump’s ascension to the presidency in 2016 triggered an unprecedented level of engagement by artists and performers. Within days of the 2016 election, a critical mass of entertainers, from teenagers to the last survivors of the World War II generation—blockbuster movie stars, art-film auteurs, Broadway dramatists, comedians, and musicians from the worlds of classical, country, pop, rock, R&B, and hip-hop—all seemed to have heard the tom-tom beat of resistance at the same moment and amplified a moral alternative to Trumpism. That level of engagement intensified with rare passion and purpose in the period of 2020 chronicled in Bloody Crossroads 2020—the Democratic primaries, the COVID-19 pandemic, the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, the conviction of sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, and the 2020 general election campaign—culminating in Trump’s failed insurrection.

Exhaustively researched, Bloody Crossroads 2020 draws from brand-new interviews with Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Rosanne Cash, David Simon, Adam McKay, Chuck D, David Corn, Mandy Patinkin, and many more. It also explores the important political activities of entertainers like Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Alyssa Milano, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro, Bette Midler, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Wanda Sykes.

Bloody Crossroads 2020 expertly dissects and celebrates how the empowering actions of artists and entertainers helped a record turnout of everyday citizens realize a triumphant 2020 election.

About the Author

DANNY GOLDBERG s the author of five previous books, including In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea and the national bestseller Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain. He is a political activist who serves on the boards of Public Citizen, New Jewish Narrative, and Brave New Films. He was the chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California from 1987–1994, during which the events described in Liberals with Attitude took place. He is currently president of Gold Village Entertainment and has worked in the music business since the early 1970s as a personal manager for Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt, the Allman Brothers, and Steve Earle, among others; and as president of three major record companies: Atlantic, Warner Bros., and Mercury.