"Erudite."-- Publishers Weekly "Erudite. Engaging. A cri de coeur about art's struggle to keep up with reality."-- Kirkus Reviews "In this brilliant book, David Thomson tells the story of how we came to make disaster and catastrophe our best friends--how we let terror cocoon and take over our imaginations to avoid seeing the things that really frighten us. Riveting and totally original."--Adam Curtis, BBC filmmaker and political journalist "David Thomson is, I think, the best writer on film in our time. He is our most argumentative and trustworthy historian of the screen.

"--Michael Ondaatje, author of The Cat's Table "With bracing prose and intensity of feeling, this book will rivet any serious reader concerned about the world--climate change, COVID, war, and other menaces. A grim but burnished book."--Diane Johnson, author of Lorna Mott Comes Home "David Thomson's Disaster Mon Amour is a piñata of literary pleasures: acid thoughts, film lore, historical meditations, and astute observation, especially about the culture's gourmandizing of despair. His high-stepping book is informed, alert, full of fury and fun."--John Lahr, author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh "Any book that takes Laurel and Hardy and Rachel Maddow as prophets of doom--and makes you want to see a Laurel and Hardy movie with Rachel Maddow as much as you want to see Laurel and Hardy as guests on her show--is going to be read at least twice."--Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train.