Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-21)

scientist. These forests

are case studies for the

myriad environmental

changes facing our

global ecosystems:

invasive species,

disease, pollution,

climate change, and the

ever-present human

impacts. Canham

provides objective and

optimistic views of the

present and future of

these resilient systems.”

The Big Goodbye:

Chinatown and the Last

Years of Hollywood,

by Sam Wasson

($15; Flatiron Books)

“Chinatown is a dark

film about politics and

corruption both public

and personal—relevant

subjects for 2020,”

says gallerist Gagosian.

“Wasson tells the story

of how Chinatown

came to be made. It’s

a love letter to the

Hollywood I remember

that doesn’t exist

anymore: pre-corporate,

pre-committee, pre-

algorithm moviemaking.

A Hollywood full of

swagger and staggering

talents. And artists:

Robert Towne, Jack

Nicholson, Roman

Polanski,BobEvans.

Evansbelievedthatthe

pathtosuccesswas

alwaysto‘betontalent.’

It’susefulwisdomfor

everyonewhoworksin

thebusinessofart.”

TheColdMillions,

byJessWalters

($29;Harper)

“Historicalfiction

remindsmethatthe

morethingschange,

themoretheyremain

thesame...for better

or worse,” says

Sam Cobbs, CEO of

the Tipping Point

Community. “The

ColdMillionsbrings

tolifeoneofthemost

infamous,yetlittle-

known,free-speech

battlesoftheearly

20thcentury between

union organizers

and local leaders in

Spokane, Wash. It’s a

stark reflection that the

system and safety net

that was built to ‘catch

us’ was really built

to catch a few—it is

stacked against many,

and it always has been.

It’s an important and

timely reminder that we

don’t have to uphold

the status quo.”

Caste: The Origins

of Our Discontents,

by Isabel Wilkerson

($32; Random House)

James, dean of the

Wharton School of

the University of

Pennsylvania, says

Wilkerson “shatters

our understanding

of caste systems in

India, Nazi Germany,

and, yes, the United

States.” She describes

the book as “a poignant

examination of how

strongly rooted beliefs,

self-preservation, and

socially constructed

narratives of race have

been passed down to
form hierarchies that
continue to separate
Americans based
on color. That other
countries modeled their
own caste structures on
the U.S. was an alarming
realization of how
effective and insidious
our system is.” Stacy
Brown-Philpot, founding
member of SoftBank
Opportunity Fund,
agrees: “It’s intense but I
believe required reading
for anyone seeking to
understand systemic
racism and what we can
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANK FRANCES FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK do to create change.”

53

Class warfare,

but fiction

A trip through

Tinseltown

YEAR IN REVIEW Bloomberg Pursuits December 21, 2020