I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had never heard of Hannah prior to this book so I was intrigued by the premise. I love a strong woman who isn't afraid to work in traditional male dominated fields and make an impact. Hannah's production company launched the television series "The Adventures of Robin Hood" which was broadcasted in the UK, US and Canada. She hired writers who had been black listed in the US due to their communist beliefs and/or connections to the party. The FBI followed Hannah's movements for years and had quite the dossier on her. I loved learning how they created the show Robin Hood and all the work that went into it. Hannah was a resilient and resourceful woman. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction.

Bricklin brings the life of a fascinating woman from the golden age of television to life in this new biography. Hannah Weinstein, a single mother facing artistic and legal threats at the height of McCarthyism, relocated to the United Kingdom, where she employed other blacklisted creatives for her production company, eventually going on to produce hundreds of hours of television as one of the few women in the television industry. Bricklin traces Weinstein’s incredible career over the middle of the twentieth century and introduces her readers to this fascinatingly capable and unstoppable creative force who had such an impact on the European television industry in the face of the Red Scare of the 1950s. Bricklin lays out the context of Weinstein’s life in clear detail, introducing readers to interwar communist organizing and the rise of the television entertainment industry after World War II, all of which centers Weinstein into a larger historical narrative. Bricklin’s biography of this fascinating female pioneer further expands the existing historical narrative around McCarthyism and the Red Scare to include blacklisted women and the larger repercussions on the entertainment industry, and Bricklin does so in an engaging authorial style over an accessible and engrossing biography.

I highly recommend this book. I was not familiar with Hannah Weinstein, whose clever, elaborate, and wildly successful European operation to produce early television content and employ writers blacklisted for Communism in the U.S. (as well as thousands of British workers) is fascinating. Through this crisp, well-researched, and artful book, I also learned many things about the early development of television itself. Weinstein created and seized a remarkable opportunity that helped many talented people who otherwise would have been destitute, but unfortunately in the end, she was herself the victim of further abrupt shifts in television’s advancement (as well as a complete disaster of a second husband). But she remained resourceful and resilient, returning her attention to her original work of advancing progressive political candidates and anti-war causes. Then, in her final act, with Ossie Davis, she created Third World Cinema Corporation to increase opportunities for Blacks and Puerto Ricans in the film industry, first producing a movie starring James Earl Jones and Diahann Carole and later producing Greased Lightening (Richard Pryor and Pam Grier) and Stir Crazy, directed by Sidney Portier and until recently “the most successful film made by a black director.” The one odd note in the book is an absence—there are hardly any references to obstacles Weinstein would have encountered in the 1940s, 50s, and beyond as a women in the entertainment business and political world. It would have been interesting to know Weinstein’s perspective on that. But still, I was happy to learn what I did about the woman Lillian Hellman referred to as “the only person in the world Joe McCarthy was afraid of.”

today, i finished Red Sapphire: The Woman Who Beat the Blacklist by Julia Bricklin. red sapphire is an unauthorized biography of hannah weinstein, an american who was one of two women in europe producing television in the postwar era. before she worked as a producer in england, she was a part of several progressive causes in the 1930s onward, which led to her associating with several blacklisted hollywood creators in the 1950s.
i’m really interested in the red scare because of its far-reaching impacts, and this book did an amazing job of demonstrating that. the lengths that weinstein and her associates went to in order to employ blacklisted writers in a time where messages couldn’t travel instantaneously were incredibly impressive. i also really enjoy learning about early media production, so reading about the impact weinstein had on the landscape of early commercial television was really cool, especially considering how the industry has progressed and is currently changing.
however, this book was hard for me to follow once it got into the details of who was doing what for sapphire films. i recognize that that’s likely a me issue, but i imagine that i’m not the only one who will have this problem. admittedly, i’m not sure what the solution here would be, but it’s worth thinking about. another issue that i found with this book is its ending. it’s incredibly strong throughout its discussion of the 1930s to the mid-1960s, and then it just hits a wall. the final chapter references hannah’s death in 1984, with little attention given to what she did after sapphire films ultimately crumbled. while i understand that sapphire was the focus of this biography, it feels somewhat incomplete without more about what weinstein did towards the end of her life.
if you’re interested in this time period or in television history, this is an interesting read. i do think that these issues are worth keeping in mind, though. thank you to netgalley for providing me access to this title in exchange for my review!

Hannah Weinstein, activist, mother, producer, writer, and so many other titles, fell under FBI suspicion for being a Communist sympathizer/supporter.

However, that’s only one of many interesting facts about her life. Hannah dedicated her life to supporting other artists blacklisted from Hollywood for being Communists.

This story shares her journey from early activism to overseeing producing to returning to life in the States.

Some of the story was easier to follow particularly during times when the story involved several characters.