directed, and starring Lee, was nominated for the
Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and propelled
him into instant celebrity status, a situation the young
entrepreneur embraced with gusto.
During the 1990’s, Lee’s prodigious output in-
cluded nine theatrical films—Mo’ Better Blues(1990),
Jungle Fever(1991),Malcolm X(1992),Crooklyn(1994),
Clockers(1995),Girl 6(1996),Get on the Bus(1996),He
Got Game(1998), andSummer of Sam(1999); several
television specials; an important documentary,Four
Little Girls(1997); numerous television and film ap-
pearances; and a series of television commercials for
Nike, in which his on-screen presence made him in-
stantly recognizable to millions. One of only four
American directors selected to participate in the
French projectLumière et compagnie(1995) commem-
orating the one hundredth anniversary of the film
camera, Lee enjoyed a respect previously unknown to
African American filmmakers.
Many of Lee’s films explore contemporary race
relations and tensions within African American
communities with a bluntness rare in commercial
American cinema. Lee’s most ambitious, thought-
ful, and mature work,Malcolm X, is a masterpiece of
biographical film. In it, the director drew a deeply
moving performance of the black leader from
Denzel Washington, a frequent player in Lee’s films.
Often criticized for the limitations of female charac-
ters in his screenplays, Lee collaborated with Pulit-
zer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori-Parks in
creating a narrative of a young woman’s difficult
search for success in Girl 6, with disappointing
results. In Get on the Bus, Lee returned to his
strengths, deftly dramatizing the political, personal,
and class differences among a (fictional) group
of African American men traveling to the (actual)
Million Man March in Washington, D.C. Lee’s film
topics have expanded, while his stylistic verve, his
talent for directing actors, his ear for lively dialogue,
and his fierce attention to the inequities of urban
life continue.
Impact Through his production company, Forty
Acres and a Mule, Lee provided international audi-
ences with compelling contemporary stories told
from an African American perspective, provided
professional opportunities for a generation of Afri-
can American actors and technical crew, and
opened the doors of Hollywood for other directors
of color.
Further Reading
Aftab, Kaleem, and Spike Lee.Spike Lee: That’s My
Stor y and I’m Sticking to It.New York: W. W. Norton,
2005.
Blake, Richard Aloysius.Street Smart: The New York of
Lumet, Allen, Scorsese, and Lee.Lexington: Univer-
sity Press of Kentucky, 2005.
Donalson, Melvin.Black Directors in Hollywood.Aus-
tin: University of Texas Press, 2003.
Carolyn AndersonSee also Academy Awards; African Americans;
Basketball; Crown Heights riot; Film in the United
States; Hip-hop and rap music; Independent films;
King, Rodney; Los Angeles riots; Million Man
March; Police brutality; Race relations; Washington,
Denzel. Left Behind books
Identification Best-selling Christian fiction series
Authors Tim LaHaye (1926- ) and Jerry B.
Jenkins (1949- )
These novels depict characters surviving from the Rapture
until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The blend of con-
servative Christian content and action-adventure plots
made these books widely popular, though controversial.
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins began a literary in-
dustry when they publishedLeft Behind: A Novel of the
Earth’s Last Daysin 1995.Tribulation Force: The Con-
tinuing Drama of Those Left Behindfollowed in 1996,
thenNicolae: The Rise of Antichristin 1997,Soul Har-
vest: The World Takes Sidesin 1998, andApollyon: The
Destroyer Is Unleashed and Assassins: Assignment—
Jerusalem, Target—Antichrist, both in 1999.
Published by Tyndale House, the series grew to in-
clude sixteen adult novels (including three pre-
quels) and sold more than fifty million copies; seven
novels reached number one onThe New York Times
best-seller list. In addition, a series for children sold
ten million copies. Related items included audio-
books, movies, graphic novels, study guides, and
even clothes and collectibles. This success was a first
for books with content that is staunchly Christian
and conservative.
Specifically, the novels espouse dispensational
premillennialism, an interpretation of the Bible—
namely 1 Thessalonians 4 and the book of Revela-510 Left Behind books The Nineties in America