Most Popular Books by Robert Kolker

The New York Times bestseller—With an Afterword and a New Epilogue by the Author A New York Times Notable Book—Now a Netflix Film “Meticulously reported and beautifully written . . . a haunting and powerful crime story that gives voice to those who can no longer be heard.”—David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager “Rich, tragic . . . monumental . . . true-crime reporting at its best.”—Washington Post One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert ran through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life and was never seen again. No one thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old: she was a Craigslist escort who had been fleeing a scene—of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County police, too, seemed to have paid little attention—until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap. But none of them Shannan’s. There was Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen at Penn Station in Manhattan three years earlier, and Melissa Barthelemy, last seen in the Bronx in 2009. There was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island, just a month after Shannon’s disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year. Like Shannan, all four women were petite, in their twenties, and had come from out of town to work as escorts, and they all had advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage. Lost Girls is a portrait of the victims of the Long Island Serial Killer, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them. Long considered “one of the best true-crime books of all time” (Time), this editionfeatures an afterword including the shocking fate of Mari Gilbert, Shannan’s mother, for whom this case became the crusade of a lifetime, a new epilogue covering the most recent developments in the Long Island Serial Killer case, including the arrest, the missteps of the police investigation, and an updated timeline.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF GQ''s TOP 50 BOOKS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY • The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science''s great hope in the quest to understand the disease. "Reads like a medical detective journey and sheds light on a topic so many of us face: mental illness." —Oprah Winfrey A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don''s work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family''s unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.

An updated and expanded version of this classic study of contemporary American film, the new edition of A Cinema of Loneliness reassesses the landscape of American cinema over the past decade, incorporating discussions of directors like Judd Apatow and David Fincher while offering assessments of the recent, and in some cases final, work from the filmmakers--Penn, Scorsese, Stone, Altman, Kubrick--at the book''s core.

Media Studies is a comprehensive text for introductory and advanced courses in the growing field of media studies, integrating history with close textual analysis in a concise, readable style. Explores the growing synergies between print and online journalism, and the growth of independent journalism through blogging Discusses the ways advertising is connected to print and screen, economically and from the perspective of the reader Gives students the analytical skills they need in a presentation that is readable without sacrificing complexity Allows students to move within the media they know while increasing comprehension

Almost all students have seen 2001, but virtually none understand its inheritance, its complexities, and certainly not its ironies. The essays in this collection, commissioned from a wide variety of scholars, examine in detail various possible readings of the film and its historical context. They also examine the film as a genre piece--as the summa of science fiction that simultaneously looks back on the science fiction conventions of the past (Kubrick began thinking of making a science fiction film during the genre''s heyday in the fifties), rethinks the convention in light of the time of the film''s creation, and in turn changes the look and meaning of the genre that it revived--which now remains as prominent as it was almost four decades ago. Constructed out of its director''s particular intellectual curiosity, his visual style, and his particular notions of the place of human agency in the world and, in this case, the universe, 2001 is, like all of his films, more than it appears, and it keeps revealing more the more it is seen. Though their backgrounds and disciplines differ, the authors of this essay collection are united by a talent for vigorous yet incisive writing that cleaves closely to the text--to the film itself, with its contextual and intrinsic complexities--granting readers privileged access to Kubrick''s formidable, intricate classic work of science fiction.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road comes the heart-wrenching journey of a family facing a tragic genetic destiny, set against the scientific search for hope for all of us who fear losing our selves to dementia. None of us knows how our story will end, or what shape we will be in by the time the end comes. Here, however, is the story of a family filled with people who do know - or could know. Each family member has a 50-50 chance of inheriting a genetic mutation that causes frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a cruel disease that emerges in middle age. As more and more family members begin to show symptoms, The Vanishing Family offers an intimate exploration of the family''s emotional journeys and relationships, and the difficult decisions they face as they confront their genetic fate. Through first-rate reporting and compassionate storytelling, Kolker brings to life the experiences of those in the family who are afflicted by FTD and those who are not. Interwoven with this devastating narrative is the relentless search for a cure-and a glimmer of hope that FTD research could also help us understand more common forms of dementia like Alzheimer''s. The decision of whether to get tested for the genetic mutation looms over all members of the family, surfacing a haunting question: if you were going to lose yourself-in a year, or two, or ten-would you even want to know? The Vanishing Family is a powerful allegory for our anxieties about aging and the unknown, offering a roadmap through the unthinkable.

Politics Goes to the Movies introduces the topic of political representation and ideology by analyzing some of the most important politically themed films across the history of cinema in a refreshing and concise volume. Offering a survey of political cinema from 1915 to present day, topics include: propaganda, Communism, Fascism, revolutionary cinema, and contemporary documentary. Using individual case studies that begin with The Birth of a Nation and end with O.J.: Made in America, the book introduces how various strands of international politics have been woven through the fabric of cinema by contextualizing each film in its particular historical moment. In addition, Robert Kolker offers formal analyses that explore not only overtly political themes but also how the structural properties of a film can themselves be political—how political films are made, politically. Including films produced across Europe, North Africa, the US, and Latin America, this accessible and engaging book is an ideal introductory text for students of political cinema.

Film, Form, and Culture (4th edition) offers a lively introduction to both the formal and cultural aspects of film. With extensive analysis of films past and present, this textbook explores film from part to whole; from the smallest unit of the shot to the way shots are edited together to create narrative. It then examines those narratives (both fiction and non-fiction) as stories and genres that speak to the culture of their time and our perceptions of them today. Composition, editing, genres (such as the gangster film, the Western, science fiction, and melodrama) are analyzed alongside numerous images to illustrate the discussion. Chapters on the individuals who make films - the production designer, cinematographer, editor, composer, producer, director, and actor - illustrate the collaborative nature of filmmaking. This new edition includes: An expanded discussion of the digital ''revolution" in filmmaking: exploring the movement from celluloid to digital recording and editing of images, as well as the use of CGI A new chapter on international cinema that covers filmmaking from Italy to Mumbai offering students a broader understanding of cinema on a worldwide scale A new chapter on film acting that uses images to create a small catalogue of gestures and expressions that are recognizable in film after film Expanded content coverage and in-depth analysis throughout, including a visual analysis of a scene from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight An expanded chapter on the cultural contexts of film summarizes the theories of cultural and media studies, concluding with a comparative analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Judd Apatow’s This is 40 Over 260 images, many in color, that create a visual index to and illustration of the discussion of films and filmmaking Each chapter ends with updated suggestions for further reading and viewing, and there is an expanded glossary of terms. Additional resources for students and teachers can also be found on the companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/kolker), which includes additional case studies, discussion questions and links to useful websites. This textbook is an invaluable and exciting resource for students beginning film studies at undergraduate level.