Grass: Untold Stories: English 2009

When World War I ended in 1918, the world had changed. The face of Europe was reshaped, its boundaries altered, and Communism had taken over Russia. Many Americans were there to witness this, among them Merian C. Cooper, an Air Force pilot, Ernest B. Schoedsack, an Army cameraman, and Marguerite Harrison, a newspaper reporter. Cooper and Schoedsack had both fought in the war, and became involved in post-war events, while Harrison was recruited to work for US Intelligence, reporting on political developments in Germany and Soviet Russia. The three shared a wanderlust and a curiosity about other cultures that would take them separately, or together, all over Europe and Asia -- experiencing such hardships as war and prison. In the Middle East. they came together to film the migration of a nomadic Iranian tribe, making one of the first ever documentaries, “Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life.” This volume looks at the lives of all three of these unique individuals, and at the many adventures that shaped them and brought them to their pioneering moment in cinematic history, presenting this fascinating story in its entirety for the first time.