Defying the Odds

Bitterness and joy, outrage and satisfaction, shame and pride, escapes to safe places and displays of celebration—these were just a few of the conflicting reactions that greeted the election of Donald Trump. One point lays beyond dispute: Donald Trump defied the odds, whether set by bookmakers or political pundits, or pollsters.

In this book—as they have for every presidential election since 1992—James Ceaser, Andrew Busch, and John Pitney Jr. revisit the race for the presidency and congressional and state elections through the short lens of politics today and the long lens of American political history. At the core of the 2016 election, they seek to understand and explain the different reasons for Donald Trump’s success at each stage of the campaign. With its keen insights into the issues and events that drove the 2016 election, *Defying the Odds* will be an invaluable resource for students and all political observers seeking to understand an election that was decades in the making and will continue to resonate throughout American politics for many years to come.

Just what is "independent" cinema? D. K. Holm, columnist for Kevin Smith's website and author of *Robert Crumb* and *Quentin Tarantino**,* aims to define a term that can be difficult to distinguish from categories such as avant-garde, underground, experimental, or art films. By contrasting studio-era Hollywood with changes in the business since the 1970s and chronicling the rise of companies such as Miramax and New Line, this book shows the birth of a commercial environment in which the new independent cinema could emerge. Detailed assessments and previously unpublished interviews with filmmakers, such as James Mangold *(Walk the Line*)*,* Jill Sprecher *(Clockwatchers*)*,* and Guy Maddin (*The Saddest Music in the World*) show the vastly different roles independent cinema can play in different hands. An accompanying DVD features Paul Cronin's documentary *Film as a Subversive Art: Amos Vogel and Cinema 16*, about the founder of the New York Film Festival and one of the country's most important film societies.