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The Warner Brothers: Imagining America

A Conversation with Chris Yogerst and George Feltenstein

Explore how the Warner brothers, cultural and economic outsiders, created films that not only expanded the reach of the medium but powerfully shaped our idea of the American dream.

The core of the Warner Bros. saga cannot be found in its commercial successes. It is the story of four brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack—whose vision for Hollywood helped shape the world of entertainment as we know it. In The Warner Brothers, Chris Yogerst follows the siblings from their family's humble origins in Poland, through their young adulthood in the American Midwest, to the height of fame and fortune in Hollywood. With unwavering resolve, the brothers soldiered on against the backdrop of an America reeling from the aftereffects of domestic and global conflict. At every major cultural turning point in their lifetime, the Warners held a front-row seat. Paying close attention to the brothers' identities as cultural and economic outsiders, Yogerst chronicles how the Warners built a global filmmaking powerhouse. Equal parts family history and cinematic journey, The Warner Brothers is an empowering story of the American dream and the legacy four brothers left behind for generations of filmmakers and film lovers to come.

"In his magisterial biography of a brotherhood, Chris Yogerst makes the case that the Warner Brothers were not merely shrewd businessmen or talented showmen, but essential sculptors of American myth. By examining the private lives of Harry, Jack, Sam, and Albert, Yogerst uncovers how personal experience, cultural identity, and family history shaped the values, anxieties, and dreams the Warner Brothers etched into the national psyche. This is a brilliant, revelatory book." ―Anthony Marra, New York Times bestselling author of Mercury Pictures Presents

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