Chris Yogerst

Chris Yogerst, a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books, is an associate professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His most recent book is The Warner Brothers (2023). Chris is also the author of From the Headlines to Hollywood: The Birth and Boom of Warner Bros. (2016) and Hollywood Hates Hitler! Jew-Baiting, Anti-Nazism, and the Senate Investigation into Warmongering in Motion Pictures (2020). His writing can be found in The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post, The Journal of American Culture, and Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. Find him on Twitter @chrisyogerst as well as Instagram and Facebook @cyogerst.

Articles

Into the Archives: On “Letters from Hollywood”
Chris Yogerst reviews a revealing collection of letters from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Chris YogerstJan 2, 2020
- Film
- History
Why We Shouldn’t Fear Joker
Chris Yogerst examines the history of misconceptions about violent films spurring real-world violence.
Chris YogerstOct 10, 2019
Mel Brooks, Boomer’s Comedian
Mel Brooks looked for boundaries to cross and conventions to subvert, but his best work rarely came from crossing social and political boundaries.
Chris YogerstJun 12, 2019
- Biography & Autobiography
- Film
Everyone Can Benefit from Dreyer’s English — Especially Scholars
Chris Yogerst reviews Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer's "Dreyer's English."
Chris YogerstFeb 12, 2019
The Women Who Knew Howard Hughes
Chris Yogerst reviews Karina Longworth’s "Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood."
Chris YogerstNov 21, 2018
The Most Powerful Person in Hollywood Without a Studio
The most powerful man in Hollywood didn’t make movies. He was a shady journalist.
Chris YogerstNov 11, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Politics
Wave of Anti-Semitism Today Resembles Prewar Attitudes Towards Jewish-Led Hollywood
Chris Yogerst on the echoes of prewar anti-Hollywood sentiment in today's anti-semitism.
Chris YogerstNov 4, 2018
How Stan Lee Became the Man Behind Marvel
Chris Yogerst on Bob Batchelor's recent biography of the comic book legend.
Chris YogerstApr 21, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Comics
Hollywood, Los Angeles Spies, and the Underground Battle Against Hitler
Two new books tell the story of how one alarmed volunteer in L.A.’s Jewish community helped take down Nazi spies in the years leading up to World War II.
Chris YogerstOct 23, 2017
- History
- Politics
The Real and the Imagined in Douglas Rushkoff’s “Aleister & Adolf”
"Aleister & Adolf" emphasizes the importance of understanding how messages are created, how they are used, and how they persist over time.
Chris YogerstOct 21, 2017
- Comics