New Book on June Mathis Available for Preorder Now!

WFPP contributor Tom Slater has a new book on June Mathis, entitled The Rise and Fall of a Silent Film Visionary, coming out from The University Press of Kentucky on April 8, 2025. Slater’s book is currently available for preorder.

 Use the code FA30 for a 30% discount.

From The University Press of Kentucky:

In June Mathis: The Rise and Fall of a Silent Film Visionary, Thomas J. Slater illuminates Mathis’s important and complicated life and work, not only detailing her discovery of the silent movie superstar Rudolph Valentino and her involvement on the original screenplay for Ben-Hur (1925) but also her prowess in all aspects of production. Slater pulls from historical records as well as letters, never-before-studied scripts, and Mathis’s handwritten will to build a robust narrative for someone who always had to struggle for success, even though Photoplay acknowledged her as “the most powerful woman in the motion picture industry” in 1923. Slater discusses Mathis’s artistic and moral failings, as well as how her efforts—such as overlooked collaborations with writer Katherine Kavanaugh and actress Alla Nazimova—consistently challenged male dominance, militarism, and greed.

“Long neglected, June Mathis finally gets her due in this important study of her ground-breaking life and career. Tom Slater, in over 40 years of diligent research, has brought to light the story of a woman who began in films in 1915, who not only wrote, but also edited and produced, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), the film that made Valentino a star. This book is a significant contribution to our understanding of just how important women were to the actual production of motion pictures during the silent era.”  –Joanna E. Rapf, Visiting Professor, Dartmouth College, Film and Media Studies.

 “Fantastic. A great contribution to silent cinema history.”—Ruth Barton, author of Rex Ingram: Visionary Director of the Silent Screen