Spielberg is —the embodiment of the Hollywood ideal: the commercial potential of film married to its creative possibilities. He’s widely popular, but he’s also a stylist, and far darker than he is given credit for. Often, it is this very darkness that speaks to us. But, it’s also . His leading characters, even Indiana Jones, are marked by their vulnerability, their mistakes, their yearning. It's the human touch. There are : the suburban background that supplied the films with a biographical streak; the collaborations (with George Lucas and the Movie Brats in general, with composer John Williams, producer Kathleen Kennedy, editor Michael Khan, stars Richard Dreyfus, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks, and mogul and mentor Sid Sheinberg). The myths that bloomed from the making of these films. The nightmare shoot and stubborn shark behind . The . Dive bombing with . Inventing . with . Venturing into history’s darkest shadows with . Transforming a genre with Spielberg of , , and . And then there is his family. How his films, even late in his career—lionized, untouchable—went . Just as he has craved the approval of his peers. That fateful Oscar took so long in coming... Defining, appreciating, contextualizing, and understanding the films of Spielberg is a tall order. Their simplicity is deceptive. You have to cut through the glow, the adoration, the simple joy that comes with their embrace, and get to . Sourcing the inspirations, locating the critical nuance, the nurtured performance, and the recurrent theme— —this book celebrates all this and more.