Independent Stardom

"Carman’s study revises common conceptions of Hollywood stardom as a top-down process in which studios controlled stars and constructed their images and governed their labor with iron fists. Through really smart and sharp archival work, Carman fully reworks this picture and shows how a number of women stars in the 1930s were able to pretty much take control of their careers (what films to be in, what image to present to the public, etc.) and make of Hollywood a site of personal entrepreneurship as much as corporate strategy. This is a very important rewriting of Hollywood film history." ~Dana Polan, Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University, and author of Power and Paranoia: History, Narrative, and the American Cinema, 1940–1950 and Scenes of Instruction: The Beginnings of U. S. Study of Film

"Carman upends conventional wisdom in this valuable and informative historical study of the business practices of freelance actresses during the 1930s." ~Publishers Weekly

"Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System (published by University of Texas Press) tells a story that can shift perspectives on how Golden Age Hollywood operated." ~The Shepherd Express

"Carman’s work is important, not only as an alternative history of Hollywood labor, but also as guide for working on workers in early cinema." ~Media Industries Journal

"Carman's book . . . gives new insight into the gendered workings of the dream factory." ~Pacific Historical Review