I really enjoyed the content of the book, as well as how Frankel Structured it. While the book’s object of study is the 1952 award-winning film, High Noon, Frankel tells multiple intersecting narratives that extend well beyond the making of the movie. In addition to the production, Frankel tells the story of the film’s star, Gary Cooper, who by then was the quintessential, yet aging, American actor. The story also centers on the film’s screenwriter and uncredited producer, Carl Foreman, a prolific award-winning screenwriter who was also blacklisted during the production of High Noon due to his previous membership with the American Communist Party. Finally, the book is about the larger Hollywood blacklist, the history of the House Un-American Activities (HUAC), and their allies in Hollywood in the form of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA). Using High Noon as the exemplar of this historical period was no accident, not only because Foreman was forcibly removed from the film following his testimony in front of the HUAC but also because he wrote the film as an allegory to the Hollywood blacklist. Gary Cooper plays Marshal Will Kane, who is recently married and leaving his life as a lawman to start a new life running a general farm in another town. However, he soon learns that Frank Miller, an outlaw Kane sent to prison, just got out and will return to town on the twelve o’clock train to meet up with his gang and seek vengeance on Kane. Kane attempts to rally the townspeople to help him, but all of them refuse, and some even encourage Kane to leave before Miller gets to town. Kane is left alone to fight four outlaws, a venture he will most certainly lose. As noted, I really liked this book and think it provides a great history lesson on how ideological and political battles play out in politics and culture, the lives it impacts, and the artifacts it creates. I would definitely recommend this book not only to those interested in film history but history in general.