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Description of  Making The Best Years of Our Lives: The Hollywood Classic That Inspired a Nation (The William & Bettye Nowlin Series in Art, History, and Culture of the Western Hemisphere)

Released in 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives became an immediate success. Life magazine called it the first big, good movie of the post-war era to tackle the veterans problem. Today we call that problem PTSD, but in the initial aftermath of World War II, the modern language of war trauma did not exist. The film earned the producer Samuel Goldwyn his only Best Picture Academy Award. It offered the injured director, William Wyler, a triumphant postwar return to Hollywood. And for Harold Russell, a double amputee who costarred with Fredric March and Dana Andrews, the film provided a surprising second act. Read more