Fonda on Film

Fonda on Film
Fonda on Film

Fonda on Film

The Political Movies of Jane Fonda
By Nelson Pressley

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

320 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $21.99 (US $21.99) (CA $29.99)

ISBN 9781556522574

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (Mar 2026)

Price: $21.99
 
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Overview

As much coverage as Jane Fonda has elicited through the years, the stories often skim past her prime filmmaking core. 
Fonda on Film spotlights the signature political films Fonda generated in the 1970s—Coming Home, The China Syndrome, 9 to 5 and more—that are still underappreciated even as Fonda endures as one of the world’s most admired and controversial performers. 
This is a movie book about a mega-celebrity, an origin story voyaging through Fonda’s learning years in the 1960s and the calculated payoff of the 1970s. She emerged as a Hollywood scion challenged to prove herself while trying to rise above ingenue roles and sex-angst melodramas. Splitting time between the United States and France to stretch her range, Fonda broke through as the perky newlywed of Barefoot in the Park, the sci-fi pinup Barbarella and the Oscar-winning star of the sleek Klute. 
And then Fonda earned her activist stripes with the Vietnam vets’ Winter Soldier hearings and her alt-USO F.T.A. tour. She survived the “Hanoi Jane” flap and, by the mid-1970s, transformed into a singular star on an unparalleled moviemaking mission. 
Fonda’s long post-Klute break ended with bold comeback hits—comedy and economic justice in Fun with Dick and Jane, high drama and political commitment with Julia. Over the following half decade, Fonda’s production company generated the purposeful movies that still underpin her actor-activist persona, including the groundbreaking Coming Home on Vietnam, the timely The China Syndrome on nuclear power and the still-relevant 9 to 5 on workplace equality.
Her more recent work protesting the Iraq War in 2005 and ringleading the 2019–20 Fire Drill Fridays campaigns on Capitol Hill illustrates Fonda’s political method—and how it guided her movie work. 
Fonda on Film is a movie buff’s book, and a portrait of an iconic activist-artist bridging the gap between streets and screens. 

Reviews

“A wonderfully written and thoughtful analysis of the decade when Jane Fonda’s activism aligned most closely with her art. Scrupulously researched and consistently fun, Fonda on Film gives one of the most complicated and influential movie icons her due.” —Sophie Gilbert, author of Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves



“I have never enjoyed or learned more from an appreciation of an actor’s work than in Fonda on Film. Jane Fonda’s life and politics have for too long distracted us from what makes her so electrifying as a performer. Nelson Pressley’s deep research and nuanced understanding bring us behind the scenes to help us understand how specific her acting choices are and why they work so well. It is so beautifully written that even where we disagree (dude, I like Period of Adjustment!), I loved seeing what he had to say and came away better able to appreciate all that Fonda brings to a movie.” —Nell Minow, contributing editor, RogerEbert.com



“Jane Fonda has always been a gift to cinema. She is an empath who goes deeply into the characters she plays. Her gorgeous work in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Klute, Julia, and The China Syndrome is some of the best in the world by any actor. Fonda on Film celebrates the Jane I know and love—a powerful force for justice, vulnerable, curious, connected, a true badass, a warrior and light-worker.”  —Rosanna Arquette



“A wry, politically pointed, very of-the-moment portrait of Fonda as actor and activist. Pressley’s briskly insightful, connect-the-dots analysis bristles with wit and will leave readers eager to revisit the films and reengage with their politics.” —Bob Mondello, NPR



“Film buffs will find much to love in this detail-rich coverage of Fonda’s acting career.” —Kirkus Reviews



“A solid analysis of Jane Fonda’s film work within the context of her political activism. . . . This valuable reassessment will remind film lovers of what makes Fonda a star.” —Publishers Weekly



“Seamlessly swerves from keen appreciation of each film’s production, popularity, and cultural impact to a meticulous evaluation of Fonda’s overriding personal ethos.” —Booklist

Author Biography

Nelson Pressley was a Washington Post theater critic/arts journalist for twenty years, writing reviews, features and profiles, interviewing Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Pulitzer winners, editing in the Weekend section, publishing a weekly theater review newsletter, hosting some of the paper’s first Facebook Live projects (including interviewing Kathleen Turner), and creating other video content. His work has appeared in American Theatre, The Sondheim Review, and elsewhere, and for several years he was a panelist on WETA-TV’s Around Town. He is the author of the 2014 book American Playwriting and the Anti-Political Prejudice, and he wrote the David Mamet chapter for the 1980s book in Methuen’s Decades of American Drama series (2018). His website, A Parallax View, is a notebook on hundreds more movies from 1960 to 1981. He lives in Delaware.