Rating: 
Summary: i don't want to put it down. but i have to...
Review: ...because it's too heavy to hold for long. i mean this is one big book. and as the clever cover (with it's faux embossed envelope) proclaims, this is a COMPLETE history of oscar: from the gowns they wore to the teeth they bared. the losers, the winners, the whiners. it's sensibly laid out (easy to find the answer to any argument) with so many photos i've never seen before. but the real feature of this book is the dead-on writing. painstaking research combined with delicious dish that skips along with a kind of loving tongue-in-cheek style. it's funny, zippy, with just the right sense of reverence (or not) for our pop culture icons. and with it's sparkly cover, i think it looks very cool too.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting But Full of Black Holes
Review: A rather disappointing look at The Academy Awards. One of the "special" Chapter sections of this book looks at the dress styles of the Awards. Even though these sections are touted by the editors as "special," the specialness is cut short by many of the gorgeous photographs of the actresses cropped so short that you can't see most of their full-length gowns or even their minis. There a number of typographic errors with names mis-spelled almost as if someone was in a rush to get this extra-large book into print for the holidays. There is more information on the scientific and technical awards than there is on the Honorary Awardees and best foreign pictures. There is inconsistent information on the award winners - some with only biographical information others with only their Academy Award presentations. There are mistakes in cross referencing between the years and in some cases there just aren't any. There are photos with captions and some without captions which are frustrating for people who aren't familiar with some of the older stars. Some of the supposed lists of Award nominees aren't even marked in bold so that one can't determine who won. For those interested in a "complete" history this book isn't it - you will be disappointed. For those interested in an eclectic tidbits of the Oscars, a brief view of Academy fashions and a rather chaotic but "interesting" look at the Oscars, it is worth a peek. Is it worth paying [money]? If you like big books with pictures and text that can entertain - yes. If you like quality books with good editing and valuable information as a reference guide - no.
Rating: 
Summary: The Shoddiest Book Ever Written
Review: Avoid this error-ridden expensive book at all costs! Want examples? Katharine Hepburn "went on to win eight Academy Awards" (pg 30). Er, how about three, guys? "Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the first couple to be nominated in the same year" (pg 27). How about Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg, who were nominated together the year before? Supporting actress winner Mercedes McCambridge died in the year 2000 (pg. 94), which must be news to the still-living McCambridge. Embarrassing book with errors on practically every Oscar year. Authors Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza deserve a very special hall of shame award for producing the least-accurate and most amateurish book on any subject I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Best Oscar Book Yet
Review: Being an Oscar fanatic since childhood, I'm somewhat of a maven on Oscar history books and this is the best one yet..
Although not filled with as much info as the Wiley/Bona Inside Oscar , it's a much better looking book , beautifully designed and very user friendly. All the nominess are listed with the pictures and stories of that year, eliminating the need to flip back and forth. The writing is snappy and witty and never dry or overly reverent. It captures the insanity , glamor and silliness of the Oscars as a true American kitsch spectacle while paying appropriate tribute to its place in our cultural history . It is very well researched and some of the stories are truly amazing. The pictures are a lot of fun and each decade is prefaced with a great look at the styles of the time. The book is a great gift idea as well as a valuable contribution to any movie lover's library.
Rating:
Summary: MYSTERIOUSLY AND EGREGIOUSLY FLAWED
Review: Book was a gift. Interesting at first, but as all other reviewers have noticed, it's riddled with mistakes.Not just name switches or typos, I refer to major gaps in information and logic. It's mysterious because it makes you wonder how a large professional book of this magnitude comes together at all with such errors. Aside from the racist oversight identifying Rita Moreno as Chita Rivera (which is mind-boggling) the statement that Hepburn won 8 Oscars? That Gable won best Actor for Gone with the Wind? Impossible to conceive how something like this happens. Unless it was ghost-written by 12 people who never met and had very shoddy information. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Would Be Perfect if They Would Research More Accurately
Review: Charlie Chaplin did not direct My Man Godfrey, Marie Dressler, not Mark Dressler, appeared in The Divine Lady, The Divine Lady was not a talking picture, only Wallace Beery's name is bolded on the 1931-32 actors section....
The list of errors goes on an on, and many of them only film buffs would realize. That means that many people could seem like fools after reading parts of this book: The good news is that most of the errors appear in photo captions and the little trivia lists on the sides of the pages. The actual prose for each chapter is for the most part not only accurate but also extremely witty and sharp. So are the titles, for example, Luise Rainer won her second Oscar in 1938, and that chapter is titled "Rainer Date" (I wonder if the others really knew her name is pronounced Rye-nur). When Norma Shearer won the award and her husband was a studio chief in 1930, the chapter was titled "The Shearer Coincidence." Wings won the first award, and that chapter is "Winging It," and when Mary Pickford won for her notoriously bad 1929 Coquette, many thought it was simply because she founded the Academy itself. A scandal errupted: "Mary Had a Little Scandal" is the title.
So, this book is definitely a worthwile buy. It has fantastic photos, fasciniating fashion recaps for each decade, and lists of the winner and ceremony dates/locations. The errors are quite unneccary, and without them the book would be perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Book however with several errors
Review: Don't get me wrong this was an enjoyable book, the layout extremely impressive, and , considering I have a lot of books on The Oscars, this one managed to keep my interest. However I am concerned about some glaring mistakes throughout the book, which to me devalues the book when it comes to settling arguments. Errors which include the book stating that Katherine Hepburn has won 8 oscars!, it incorrectly identifies Walter Brennan as Wallace Berry, says the Helen Hayes won in her screen debut then a few years later notes that Gale Sondergaard becomes the first person to win an Oscar in her debut film. As well as that it notes the Laurence Olivier is the only person to direct himself to an Oscar, totally ignoring the fact that Roberto Benigni did it in 1998. As I said an enjoyable book but be wary with the facts. Not worth the 60-70$ price range, but still a nice buy.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a winner
Review: Fabulous, fun, much information and so easy to read.
GREAT coffee table book.
Rating:
Summary: a great big dessert
Review: finally, an oscar book that's actually fun to read. usually these things are written for stat junkies and cinephiles who can make this stuff sound like work rather than entertaining. this one is even great to look at. the photos, the writing -- a real pleasure, like a great big dessert! i'm hooked.
Rating:
Summary: It 'swonderful, It 'smarvelous...
Review: From an Aristelion perspective, the Oscars are about spectacle--glamour, glitz and guilty pleasure. Kinn and Piazza have brilliantly embodied this spirit in The Academy Awards: The Complete History of Oscar. The book is beautifully layed-out with wonderful photographs and a narrative style that simmers with savy insight and salacious asides, perfectly suited to its subject. Some of the other reviewers seem to miss this point. We are not deconstructing a scholarly thesis on August Strindberg or, for that matter, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. This book is about Hollywood and the Academy Awards. Go ahead; buy the book and have your guilty pleasure!
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