title: New Hollywood

text: The New Hollywood was not without criticism, as in a "Los Angeles Times" article film critic Manohla Dargis described it as the "halcyon age" of the decade's filmmaking, that "was less revolution than business as usual, with rebel hype". She also pointed out in her "New York Times" article that New Hollywood enthusiasts insist this was "when American movies grew up (or at least starred underdressed actresses); when directors did what they wanted (or at least were transformed into brands); when creativity ruled (or at least ran gloriously amok, albeit often on the studio's dime)."


title: New Hollywood

text: This era of American cinema was also criticized for its excessive decadence and on-set mishaps. Even Steven Spielberg, who co-directed/co-produced 1983's "" with John Landis, was so disgusted by the latter's handling of the deadly helicopter accident that resulted in the death of character actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, he ended their friendship and publicly called for the end of this era. When approached by the press about the accident, he stated "No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now, than ever before, to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn't safe, it's the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, 'Cut!'


title: New Hollywood

text: The films of Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola influenced both the Poliziotteschi genre films in Italy and a decade later the Cinéma du look movement in France.


title: New Hollywood

text: American Eccentric Cinema has been framed as influenced by this era. Both traditions have similar themes and narratives of existentialism and the need for human interaction. The New Hollywood focuses on the darker elements of humanity and society within the context of the American Dream in the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, with themes that were reflective of sociocultural issues and were centered around the potential meaninglessness of pursuing the American Dream as generation upon generation was motivated to possess it. In comparison, American Eccentric Cinema does not have a distinct context, its films show characters who are very individual and their concerns are very distinctive to their own personalities.


title: New Hollywood

text: The behind-the-scenes of some of the films from this era ("Rosemary's Baby", "The Exorcist", "Twilight Zone: The Movie" and "The Omen") were also the subjects for the docuseries "Cursed Films".


title: New Hollywood

text: The following is a chronological list of notable films that are generally considered to be "New Hollywood" productions.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: We Can Be Heroes is a 2020 American superhero film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Though it features the characters SharkBoy and LavaGirl, it is not a sequel to his 2005 film "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D". Rodriguez was also the cinematographer and editor of the film, which stars YaYa Gosselin, Lyon Daniels, Andy Walken, Hala Finley, Lotus Blossom, Dylan Henry Lau, Andrew Diaz, Isaiah Russel-Bailey, Akira Akbar, Nathan Blair and Vivien Lyra Blair. It was released on December 25, 2020, by Netflix and received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel is in development.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Missy Moreno is at home with her dad, Marcus, when they receive word to come to the rescue of heroes where Missy has to go with her father and be with other Heroics' children.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Missy meets the other children there: Wheels, who possesses super-intelligence; Noodles, who can stretch his body; Ojo, who is mute and communicates through art; A-Capella, who can move objects by singing; Slo-Mo, who is always in slow motion; Face Maker, who can make any face; Rewind and Fast Forward, twins that can alter time; Wild Card, who has immense power but no control over it; and Guppy, who has "shark strength" and can shape water into anything.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: The kids watch the battle between the aliens and Heroics on television, ending with the Heroics' capture. Missy realizes that Ojo's drawings tell the future. When a drawing shows aliens breaking into the vault, the kids hatch a plan to escape.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Face Maker tricks the guards into coming into the vault where Guppy subdues them, but not before one of the guards triggers an emergency lockdown. Rewind sends them back in time, Wheels stops the guard from pushing the button, and Noodles steals their security badges. Mrs. Granada spots Missy in the hallway and seals the doors, but A-Capella makes a staircase to the roof, allowing them to escape. Noodles secures a vehicle, and the kids escape.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: They land at the home of Missy's grandmother, Anita Moreno, who is the Heroics' trainer and helps the kids master their powers and work as a team. The aliens arrive and Grandma sends the kids through a tunnel that leads to an empty field before she is captured. The kids spot an empty alien craft and use it to reach the Mother ship. Locating a room with a purple pyramid, they see the president and Ms. Granada speaking. They are alien spies, sent to prepare Earth for a "takeover". The kids are placed in a cell. Guppy makes a replica of the key from the children's tears and opens the door. A fight between the kids and the aliens ensues, and Wild Card is caught and taken for questioning while the others seek the pyramid.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Wheels hacks into the motherboard, but Ojo reveals that she can speak and is Supreme Commander of the aliens. Missy communicates with Wild Card in the control room; Face Maker has switched places with him. Granada goes after Wild Card, but not before the protective shield around the motherboard is deactivated. With the kids holding off the aliens, Wheels and Noodles remove the motherboard and swap it with a new one deactivating the alien's rocket and foiling the takeover. To the kids' surprise, their parents emerge from the rocket. Ojo reveals that she and Ms. Granada faked the "takeover" to train the kids to be the new Heroics. The kids reunite with their parents and are soon ready to save the world.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Robert Rodriguez wrote, directed, and produced "We Can Be Heroes" through his Troublemaker Studios. Priyanka Chopra, along with Christian Slater and Pedro Pascal, were announced to star. Principal photography began in August 2019, shooting in Texas. Visual effects were provided by Weta Digital.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: Upon its release, the film was the most-watched title in its opening weekend, then finished third the following weekend before returning to first in its third weekend. It finished second behind new Netflix release "Outside the Wire" in its fourth weekend. It was revealed that the film has been seen in 53 million households during the first four weeks. It was the most-watched film on Netflix in 2021.


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads, "Although it may be too zany for adults, "We Can Be Heroes" balances its sophisticated themes with heart and zealous originality." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: David Ehrlich of IndieWire called it a "zany, imaginative, and extremely kid-oriented "Avengers" riff that combines major stars with Snapchat-level special effects in order to lend a live-action Saturday morning cartoon vibe to a story about seizing your own destiny, "We Can Be Heroes" is the ultimate Troublemaker movie."


title: We Can Be Heroes (film)

text: In January 2021, Netflix announced they are planning to develop a sequel. By August of the same year, Rodriguez confirmed that he would return in his role as director, while announcing that principal photography would take place in 2022.


title: Fleetwood Mac discography

text: The discography of Fleetwood Mac consists of 18 studio albums, nine live albums, 23 compilation albums, one extended play, and 62 singles.


title: Fleetwood Mac discography

text: The 1967–1969 era Blue Horizon albums ("Fleetwood Mac", "Mr. Wonderful", "The Pious Bird of Good Omen", and "Fleetwood Mac in Chicago") and the 1971 outtakes album "The Original Fleetwood Mac" have been remastered and reissued on CD, as have the 1975–1987 era Warner Bros. studio albums ("Fleetwood Mac", "Rumours", "Tusk", "Mirage", and "Tango in the Night"). In 2020, the remaining albums from 1969 to 1974 ("Then Play On", "Kiln House", "Future Games", "Bare Trees", "Penguin", "Mystery to Me", and "Heroes are Hard to Find") were remastered and released in a CD box set, which also included a previously unreleased live concert from 15 December 1974.


title: Fleetwood Mac discography

text: In 2013, a deluxe edition of "Rumours" was released. The same year, "Then Play On" was remastered and reissued on CD. Reissues of "Then Play On", "Kiln House", "Future Games" and "Bare Trees" were released on vinyl, initially bundled with a 7″ single of "Oh Well, Parts I & II", then released separately in 2014. In 2015, a five-CD/one-DVD/two-LP deluxe edition, a three-CD expanded edition, plus a one-CD remaster of "Tusk" was released. In 2016, multiple remastered editions of "Mirage" were released. A 30th anniversary edition of "Tango in the Night" was released 31 March 2017.


title: Fleetwood Mac discography

text: In November 2017, the band announced a deluxe reissue of their 1975 self-titled album. The reissue featured a remastered version of the original album along with outtakes, alternative versions, and live recordings. The repackage was officially released worldwide on 19 January 2018.


title: North Vietnam

text: North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed from 1945 to 1976 and was recognized in 1954. Both the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese states ceased to exist when they unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


title: North Vietnam

text: During the August Revolution following World War II, Vietnamese communist revolutionary Hồ Chí Minh, leader of the Việt Minh Front, declared independence on 2 September 1945, announcing the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Việt Minh ("League for the Independence of Vietnam"), led by communists, was created in 1941 and designed to appeal to a wider population than the Indochinese Communist Party could command.


title: North Vietnam

text: From the very beginning, the DRV regime sought to consolidate power by purging other nationalist movements. Meanwhile, France moved in to reassert its colonial dominance over Vietnam. After the communist-led Việt Minh severely eliminated non-communist nationalist organizations, the First Indochina War burst out between the Việt Minh and the French in December 1946. During this guerrilla war, the Việt Minh captured and controlled most of the rural areas in Vietnam which led to French defeat in 1954. The negotiations in the Geneva Conference that year ended the war and recognized Vietnamese independence. The Geneva Accords provisionally divided the country into a northern and a southern zone along the 17th parallel, stipulating general elections scheduled for July 1956 to "bring about the unification of Viet-Nam". The northern zone was controlled by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and became commonly called North Vietnam, while the southern zone, under control of the "de jure" non-communist State of Vietnam was commonly called South Vietnam.


title: North Vietnam

text: Supervision of the implementation of the Geneva Accords was the responsibility of an international commission consisting of India, Canada, and Poland, respectively representing the non-aligned, the capitalist, and the communist blocs. The United States, however, did not sign the Geneva Accords and stated that it "shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to ensure that they are conducted fairly". The State of Vietnam strongly opposed the partition of the country. In July 1955, its prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, announced that South Vietnam would not participate in elections, claiming that the State of Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Accords and was therefore not bound by it, and raising concerns that an unfree election would occur under the communist regime in North Vietnam.


title: North Vietnam

text: Failure to unify the country by referendum led to the Vietnam War in 1955. The North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam and the South Vietnam-based Việt Cộng guerrilla fought against the military of South Vietnam (by then the Republic of Vietnam) and were backed by their communist allies, mainly China and the Soviet Union. To prevent other countries from becoming communist in Southeast Asia, the United States intervened in the conflict along with other capitalist forces from South Korea, Australia and Thailand, who heavily supported South Vietnam militarily. The conflict spread to neighboring countries and North Vietnam supported the Pathet Lao in Laos and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia against their respective US-backed governments. By 1973 the United States and its allies had been forced to withdraw from the war, and the unsupported South Vietnam was swiftly overrun by the superior Northern forces.


title: North Vietnam

text: The Vietnam War ended on 30 April 1975 and saw South Vietnam come under the control of a Provisional Revolutionary Government, which led to the reunification of Vietnam on 2 July 1976, creating the Socialist Republic of Vietnam of today. The expanded Socialist Republic retained North Vietnam's political culture under Soviet influence and continued its existing memberships in international organisations such as COMECON.


title: North Vietnam

text: The official name of the North Vietnamese state was the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" (). The South was known as the "Republic of Vietnam".


title: North Vietnam

text: "Việt Nam" () was the name adopted by Emperor Gia Long in 1804. It is a variation of "Nam Việt" (南 越, "Southern Việt"), a name used in ancient times. In 1839, Emperor Minh Mạng renamed the country "Đại Nam" ("Great South"). In 1945, the nation's official name was changed back to "Vietnam". The name is also sometimes rendered as "Viet Nam" in English. The term "North Vietnam" became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist parts.


title: North Vietnam

text: After about 300 years of partition by feudal dynasties, Vietnam was again under one single authority in 1802 when Gia Long founded the Nguyễn dynasty, but the country became a French protectorate after 1883 and under Japanese occupation after 1940 during World War II. Soon after Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945, the Việt Minh in the August Revolution entered Hanoi, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 2 September 1945 establishing a new government for the entire country replacing the Nguyễn dynasty. Hồ Chí Minh became leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was opposed to a return to French rule in Indochina, and the U.S. was supportive of the Viet Minh at this time.


title: North Vietnam

text: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh claimed dominion over all of Vietnam, but during this time Southern Vietnam was in profound political disorder. The successive collapse of French, then Japanese power, followed by the dissension among the political factions in Saigon had been accompanied by widespread violence in the countryside. On 16 August 1945, Hồ Chí Minh organized the National Congress in Tân Trào. The Congress adopted 10 major policies of the Việt Minh, passing the General Uprising Order, selecting the national flag of Vietnam, choosing the national anthem and selecting the National Committee for the Liberation of Vietnam, which later became the Provisional Revolutionary Government led by Hồ Chí Minh. On 12 September 1945, the first British troops arrived in Saigon, and on 23 September 28 days after the people of Saigon seized political power, French troops occupied the police stations, the post office, and other public buildings. The salient political fact of life in Northern Vietnam was that the Chinese Nationalist Army occupied it, and the Chinese presence had forced Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh to accommodate Chinese-backed Viet Nationalists. In June 1946, Chinese Nationalist troops evacuated Hanoi, and on 15 June, the last detachments embarked at Haiphong. After the departure of the British in 1946, the French controlled a part of Cochinchina, South Central Coast, Central Highlands since the end to the Southern Resistance War. In January 1946, the Viet Minh held an nationwide election across all the provinces to establish a National Assembly. Public enthusiasm for this event suggests that the Viet Minh enjoyed a great deal of popularity at this time, although there were few competitive races and the party makeup of the Assembly was determined in advance of the vote. Despite not joining the election, Việt Cách and Việt Quốc gained 70 seats in the National Assembly for establishing the unified government.


title: North Vietnam

text: In September 1945, the Việt Minh held secret meetings with Vietnamese Revolutionary League (Việt Cách) (18 September 1945) and Vietnamese Nationalist Party (Việt Quốc) (19 September 1945). In these two meetings, Nguyễn Hải Thần represented Việt Cách and Nguyễn Tường Tam represent Việt Quốc. Hồ Chí Minh agreed to unite the Việt Minh with Việt Cách and Việt Quốc. Thus, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam led by the Việt Minh would receive the financial and political support of the Republic of China. For this proposal, within the Việt Minh there were many different opinions. Võ Nguyên Giáp disagreed with the suggestion that the proposals were not valid and not honest, as if replacing French colonialism with Chinese domination, but Hoàng Minh Giám thought that the unification of Vietnam with the Nationalist parties will reduce opposition and strengthen the power of the Việt Minh, as the Chinese are relieved and the French have to worry. Eventually the Việt Minh under Hồ Chí Minh refused to merge with the Pro-Chinese Việt Cách and the Việt Quốc League.


title: North Vietnam

text: On 6 January 1946, President Hồ Chí Minh held the nationwide General Election which voted for the first time and passed the Constitution. Many parties did not have the right to participate in General Elections seeking to undermine. These parties claimed to be the only Việt Minh communist, the government in the hands of the Việt Minh want anyone to win it. The two opposition parties in the government are the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (Việt Quốc) and the Vietnam Cách mệnh Đồng minh (Việt Cách) did not participate in the election although Hồ Chí Minh previously sent a letter to Nguyễn Hải Thần leader of Việt Cách and Vũ Hồng Khanh leader of Việt Quốc. Hồ Chí Minh invited Việt Quốc and Việt Cách to attend the General Election and urged the two sides not to attack each other with words or actions until the Congress opens. Former Prime Minister Trần Trọng Kim said there were places where people were forced to vote for the Việt Minh. According to the Việt Minh, the election was fair. Despite being campaigned by many parties to campaign for the people to boycott the election and block the election in some places, where there are self-nominated candidates, publicly run, free elections are taking place everywhere. After the election results are announced, the truth is not the same as the propaganda parties. Many prestigious delegates of classes, religions and ethnic groups were elected in the First National Assembly, most of them not party members.


title: North Vietnam

text: The presence of Chiang Kai-shek's army up to that time ensured the survival of Việt Quốc and Việt Cách. These two parties did not have a cohesive program to enlist the people like the Việt Minh. The leaders of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party and the Việt Cách Revolutionary Party are far from having comparable qualities with Hồ Chí Minh, Võ Nguyên Giáp, and other responsible Việt Minh members. When the Chinese nationalist army withdrew from Vietnam on 15 June 1946, in one way or another, Võ Nguyễn Giáp decided that the Việt Minh had to completely control the government. Võ Nguyễn Giáp is in immediate action with the goal of spreading Việt Minh leadership: the Allied Powers are supported by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (according to Cecil B. Currey, this organization borrows the revolutionary name of Vietnamese Nationalist Party of 1930 was founded by Nguyễn Thái Học and, according to David G. Marr, the Vietnamese Communist Party under Hồ Chí Minh tried to ban the Vietnamese Nationalist Party betraying the revolutionary cause of Nguyễn Thái Học in 1930. By the end of 1945, many people still did not believe in it.) Võ Nguyễn Giáp gradually sought to phase out opposition such as the pro-Japan nationalist groups, the Trotskyists, the anti-French nationalists, and the Catholic group called "Catholic soldiers". On 19 June 1946, the Việt Minh Journal reportedly vehemently criticized "reactionaries sabotage the Franco-Vietnamese preliminary agreement on 6 March". Shortly thereafter, Võ Nguyễn Giáp began a campaign to pursue opposition parties by police and military forces controlled by the Việt Minh with the help of the French authorities. He also used soldiers, Japanese officers who had volunteered to stay in Vietnam and some of the supplies provided by France (in Hòn Gai French troops provided the Việt Minh with cannons to kill some of the positions commanded by the Great Occupation) in this campaign.


title: North Vietnam

text: When France declared Cochinchina, the southern third of Vietnam, a separate state as the "Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" in June 1946, Vietnamese nationalists reacted with fury. In November, the National Assembly adopted the first Constitution of the Republic.


title: North Vietnam

text: In the wake of the Hai Phong incident and the deterioration of the Fontainebleau Agreements, the French reoccupied Hanoi and the First Indochina War (1946–54) followed, during which many urban areas fell under French control. Following the Chinese Communist Revolution (1946–50), Chinese communist forces arrived on the border in 1949. Chinese aid revived the fortunes of the Viet Minh and transformed it from a guerrilla militia into a standing army. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 transformed what had been an anti-colonial struggle into a Cold War battleground, with the U.S. providing financial support to the French.


title: North Vietnam

text: Following the partition of Vietnam in 1954 at the end of the First Indochina War, more than one million North Vietnamese migrated to South Vietnam, under the U.S.-led evacuation campaign named Operation Passage to Freedom, with an estimated 60% of the north's one million Catholics fleeing south. The Catholic migration is attributed to an expectation of persecution of Catholics by the North Vietnamese government, as well as publicity employed by the Saigon government of the President Ngo Dinh Diem. The CIA ran a propaganda campaign to get Catholics to come to the south. However Colonel Edward Lansdale, the man credited with the campaign, rejected the notion that his campaign had much effect on popular sentiment. The Viet Minh sought to detain or otherwise prevent would-be refugees from leaving, such as through intimidation through military presence, shutting down ferry services and water traffic, or prohibiting mass gatherings. Concurrently, between 14,000 and 45,000 civilians and approximately 100,000 Viet Minh fighters moved in the opposite direction.


title: North Vietnam

text: After the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, or Vietcong, alongside the North Vietnamese Army, governed South Vietnam during the period before reunification. However it was seen as a vassal government of North Vietnam. North and South Vietnam were officially reunited on 2 July 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The merged country's government was dominated by holdovers from North Vietnam.


title: North Vietnam

text: Land reform was an integral part of the Viet Minh and communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam. A Viet Minh Land Reform Law of 4 December 1953 called for (1) confiscation of land belonging to landlords who were enemies of the regime; (2) requisition of land from landlords not judged to be enemies; and (3) purchase with payment in bonds. The land reform was carried out from 1953 to 1956. Some farming areas did not undergo land reform but only rent reduction and the highland areas occupied by minority peoples were not substantially impacted. Some land was retained by the government but most was distributed without payment with priority given to Viet Minh fighters and their families. The total number of rural people impacted by the land reform program was more than 4 million. The rent reduction program impacted nearly 8 million people.


title: North Vietnam

text: The land reform program was a success in terms of distributing much land to poor and landless peasants and reducing or eliminating the land holdings of landlords (địa chủ) and rich peasants. By 1960, there were 40,000 cooperatives spanning nearly nine-tenths of all farmland. The program, proceeded by a Three Year Plan (1957-1960), lifted agricultural production to 5.4 million tonnes or over double pre-Indochina War levels.


title: North Vietnam

text: However, it was carried out with violence and repression primarily directed against large landowners identified, sometimes incorrectly, as landlords. On 18 August 1956, North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh acknowledged the serious errors the government had made in the land reform program. Too many farmers, he said, had been incorrectly classified as "landlords" and executed or imprisoned and too many mistakes had been made in redistributing land. Severe rioting protesting the excesses of the land reform program broke out in November 1956 in one largely Catholic rural district. About 1,000 people were killed or injured and several thousand imprisoned. Democratic Republic of Vietnam initiated a "correction campaign" which by 1958 had resulted in the return of land to many of those harmed by the land reform. As part of the correction campaign as many as 23,748 political prisoners were released by North Vietnam by September 1957.


title: North Vietnam

text: Executions and imprisonment of persons classified as "landlords" or enemies of the state were contemplated from the beginning of the land reform program. A Politburo document dated 4 May 1953 said that executions were "fixed in principle at the ratio of one per one thousand people of the total population." The number of persons actually executed by communist cadre carrying out the land reform program has been variously estimated. Some estimates of those killed range up to 200,000. Other scholarship has concluded that the higher estimates were based on political propaganda emanating from South Vietnam and that the actual total of those executed was probably much lower. Scholar Edwin E. Moise estimated the total number of executions at between 3,000 and 15,000 and later came up with a more precise figure of 13,500. Moise's conclusions were supported by documents of diplomats from Hungary (occupied by the Soviet Union), living in Democratic Republic of Vietnam at the time of the land reform. Author Michael Lind in a 2013 book gives a similar estimate of "at least ten or fifteen thousand" executed.


title: North Vietnam

text: The ultimate objective of the land reform program of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam government was not to achieve equitable distribution of farmland but rather the organization of all farmers into co-operatives in which land and other factors of agricultural production would be owned and used collectively.


title: North Vietnam

text: The first steps after the 1953–1956 land reform were the encouragement by the government of labor exchanges in which farmers would unite to exchange labor; secondly in 1958 and 1959 was the formation of "low level cooperatives" in which farmers cooperated in production. By 1961, 86 percent of farmers were members of low-level cooperatives. The third step beginning in 1961 was to organize "high level cooperatives", true collective farming in which land and resources were utilized collectively without individual ownership of land. By 1971, the great majority of farmers in North Vietnam were organized into high-level cooperatives. After the reunification of Vietnam, collective farms were abandoned gradually in the 1980s and 1990s.


title: North Vietnam

text: North Vietnam established a system of "autonomous regions" (Vietnamese: "Khu tự trị") similar to (and based on) the autonomous regions of China. In recognising the traditional separatism of tribal minorities, this policy of accommodationism gave them self-government in exchange for acceptance of Hanoi’s control. These regions existed from 1955 but following the merger of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of South Vietnam the system of autonomous regions wasn't continued and were fully abolished by 1978.


title: North Vietnam

text: From 1960, the North Vietnamese government went to war with the Republic of Vietnam via its proxy the Viet Cong, in an attempt to annex South Vietnam and reunify Vietnam under a communist party. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces and supplies were sent along the Ho Chi Minh trail. In 1964 the United States sent combat troops to South Vietnam to support the South Vietnamese government, but the U.S. had advisors there since 1950. Other nations, including Australia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and New Zealand also contributed troops and military aid to South Vietnam's war effort. China, DPRK and the Soviet Union provided aid to and troops in support of North Vietnamese military activities. This was known as the Vietnam War, or the "American War" in Vietnam itself (1955–75). In addition to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, other communist insurgencies also operated within neighboring Kingdom of Laos and Khmer Republic, both formerly part of the French colonial territory of Indochina. These were the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Rouge, respectively. These insurgencies were aided by the North Vietnamese government, which sent troops to fight alongside them.


title: North Vietnam

text: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was diplomatically isolated by many capitalist states, and many other anti-communist states worldwide throughout most of the North's history, as these states extended recognition only to the anti-communist government of South Vietnam. North Vietnam however, was recognized by almost all Communist countries, such as the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, China, North Korea, and Cuba, and received aid from these nations. North Vietnam refused to establish diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia from 1950 to 1957, perhaps reflecting Hanoi's deference to the Soviet line on the Yugoslav government of Josip Broz Tito, and North Vietnamese officials continued to be critical of Tito after relations were established.


title: North Vietnam

text: Several non-aligned countries also recognized North Vietnam. Similar to India, most accorded North Vietnam "de facto" rather than "de jure" (formal) recognition. In the case of Algeria however, relations between the DRV and Algeria were much closer as a result of clandestine weapon transfers from the former to the latter during the Algerian War, with Algeria placing a draft resolution in the 1973 summit of the Non-Aligned Movement calling on its members to support the DRV and PRG.


title: North Vietnam

text: In 1969, Sweden became the first Western country to extend full diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam. Many other Western countries followed suit in the 1970s, such as the government of Australia under Gough Whitlam. By December 1972, 49 countries had established diplomatic relations with North Vietnam, and in 1973 more countries such as France established or reestablished their relations with the DRV.


title: North Vietnam

text: Despite there not being any official diplomatic ties between Japan and North Vietnam between 1954 and 1973, private exchanges were gradually being rebuilt. In March 1955 the Japanese Japan–Vietnam Friendship Association was created and in August of that year the Japan–Vietnam Trade Association was established. Meanwhile, in 1965 North Vietnamese Vietnam–Japan Friendship Association would be established to help maintain unofficial relations between the two countries.


title: North Vietnam

text: During the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s, Japan consistently encouraged a negotiated settlement at the earliest possible date. Even before the hostilities ended, it had made contact with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) government and had reached an agreement to establish diplomatic relations in September 1973. On 21 September 1973, Japan and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) signed the "Exchange of Notes Concerning the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between Japan and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam" in Paris, this document was in the French language and restored the diplomatic relations between Japan and North Vietnam. On the Japanese side the document was signed by Yoshihiro Nakayama, the Japanese Ambassador to France, while for the North Vietnamese side the document was signed by the "Charge d'Affaires ad interim" of North Vietnam to France Võ Văn Sung. Implementation, however, was delayed by North Vietnamese demands that Japan pay the equivalent of US$45 million in World War II reparations in two yearly installments, in the form of "economic cooperation" grants. Giving in to the Vietnamese demands, Japan paid the money and opened an embassy in Hanoi on 11 October 1975, following the unification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


title: North Vietnam

text: Earlier, the Japanese already gave similar funding to the South Vietnamese, which also re-established official diplomatic relations with Japan during the same period.


title: North Vietnam

text: With the re-establishment of relations between Japan and North Vietnam the Japanese agreed to resolve what are termed "unsolved problems", which after earlier negotiations in Vientiane, Kingdom of Laos, these "unsolved problems" revolved around grants given by the Japanese State to North Vietnam. Between 1973 and 1975 the Japanese and North Vietnamese governments held over 20 both official and unofficial meetings, on 6 October 1975 both sides finally reached and agreement and the Japanese would provide the North Vietnamese with an endowment worth 13.5 billion yen. Of this money, 8.5 billion yen would be used to purchase heavy farmland cultivation machinery as well as public works provided by Japanese-owned corporations.


title: North Vietnam

text: After diplomatic relations were re-established, in 1975, Japan would open an embassy in Hanoi and North Vietnam would open an embassy in Tokyo.


title: David Simon

text: David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on "The Wire" (2002–08).


title: David Simon

text: He worked for "The Baltimore Sun" City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote "" (1991), and co-wrote "" (1997) with Ed Burns. The former book was the basis for the NBC series "" (1993–99), on which Simon served as a writer and producer. Simon adapted the latter book into the HBO mini-series "The Corner" (2000).


title: David Simon

text: He was the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the HBO television series "The Wire" (2002–2008). He adapted the non-fiction book "Generation Kill" into a television mini-series, and served as the show runner for the project. He was selected as one of the 2010 MacArthur Fellows and named an "Utne Reader" visionary in 2011. Simon also created the HBO series "Treme" with Eric Overmyer, which aired for four seasons. Following "Treme", Simon wrote the HBO mini-series "Show Me a Hero" with journalist William F. Zorzi, a colleague at "The Baltimore Sun" and on "The Wire". Simon and frequent collaborator George Pelecanos reunited to create original series "The Deuce". The drama about the New York porn industry in the 1970s and 1980s starred producer Maggie Gyllenhaal and executive producer James Franco, and aired from 2017 to 2019. Simon's next series, "The Plot Against America", debuted in 2020.


title: David Simon

text: "We Own This City" was developed and written by George Pelecanos and Simon, and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. The six-episode limited series premiered on HBO on April 25, 2022.


title: David Simon

text: Simon was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Dorothy Simon (née Ligeti), a homemaker, and Bernard Simon, a former journalist and then public relations director for B'nai B'rith for 20 years. Simon was raised in a Jewish family, and had a bar mitzvah ceremony. His family roots are in Russia, Belarus, Hungary, and Slovakia (his maternal grandfather had changed his surname from "Leibowitz" to "Ligeti"). He has a brother, Gary Simon, and a sister, Linda Evans, who died in 1990.


title: David Simon

text: In March 1977, when Simon was still in high school, Simon's father was one of a group of over 140 people held hostage (and later released) in Washington, D.C. by former national secretary of the Nation of Islam Hamaas Abdul Khaalis in the Hanafi Siege.


title: David Simon

text: Simon graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland, and wrote for the school newspaper, "The Tattler". In 1983, he graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park. While at college he wrote and was editor for "The Diamondback", and became friends with contemporary David Mills.


title: David Simon

text: Upon leaving college, Simon worked as a police reporter at "The Baltimore Sun" from 1982 to 1995. Simon was hired by the Baltimore Sun for a piece he wrote about Lefty Driesell, who was then the men's basketball coach at the University of Maryland. Driesell had been extremely frustrated that one of his players was suspended from playing for sexual impropriety and called the victim, threatening to destroy her reputation if she did not withdraw her complaint. This was all done while the university administration was listening to the call, but they did nothing. Lefty Driesell was later given a 5-year contract and, in 2018, he was inducted into the ACC Hall of Fame.


title: David Simon

text: Simon spent most of his career covering the crime beat. A colleague has said that Simon loved journalism and felt it was "God's work". Simon says that he was initially altruistic and was inspired to enter journalism by "The Washington Post"s coverage of Watergate but became increasingly pragmatic as he gained experience.


title: David Simon

text: Simon was a union captain when the writing staff went on strike in 1987 over benefit cuts. He remained angry after the strike ended and began to feel uncomfortable in the writing room. He searched for a reason to justify a leave of absence and settled on the idea of writing a novel. "I got out of journalism because some sons of bitches bought my newspaper and it stopped being fun," says Simon.


title: David Simon

text: In 1988, disillusioned, Simon took a year's leave to go into the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit to write a book.


title: David Simon

text: Simon's leave of absence from "The Sun" resulted in his first book "" (1991). The book was based on his experiences shadowing the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit during 1988. The idea came from a conversation on Christmas Eve 1985 in the unit office, where Det. Bill Lansey told him, "If someone just wrote down what happens in this place for one year, they'd have a goddamn book." Simon approached the police department and the editors of the paper to receive approval. The detectives were initially slow to accept him, but he persevered in an attempt to "seem … like part of the furniture". However, he soon ingratiated himself with the detectives, saying in the closing notes of the book, "I shared with the detectives a year's worth of fast-food runs, bar arguments and station house humor: Even for a trained observer, it was hard to remain aloof." During one instance, Simon even assisted with an arrest. Two detectives Simon was riding with pulled their car to a curb to apprehend two suspects, but Detective Dave Brown got his trenchcoat caught in a seat belt when he tried to exit the car. Brown told Simon to assist Detective Terry McLarney himself, and Simon helped apprehend and search one of the suspects.


title: David Simon

text: The book won the 1992 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book. The Associated Press called it "a true-crime classic". The "Library Journal" also highly recommended it, and "Newsday" described it as "one of the most engrossing police procedural mystery books ever written". Simon credits his time researching the book as altering his writing style and informing later work. He learned to be more patient in research and writing, and said a key lesson was not promoting himself but concentrating on his subjects. Simon told Baltimore's City Paper in 2003 that "Homicide" was not traditional journalism. "I felt "Homicide" the book and "The Corner" were not traditional journalism in the sense of coming from some artificially omniscient, objective point of view," said Simon. "They're immersed in the respective cultures that they cover in a way that traditional journalism often isn't."


title: David Simon

text: The publishers of "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" were eager for a screen adaptation and submitted it to numerous directors but there was little interest. Simon suggested that they send the book to Baltimore native and film director Barry Levinson. Levinson's assistant Gail Mutrux enjoyed the book and both she and Levinson became attached as producers. The project became the award-winning TV series "" (1993–1999), on which Simon worked as a writer and producer.


title: David Simon

text: Simon was asked by Mutrux to write the show's pilot episode but declined, feeling he did not have the necessary expertise. He collaborated with his old college friend David Mills to write the season two premiere "". The episode was based on a story by executive producer Tom Fontana and featured Robin Williams in a guest starring role that garnered the actor an Emmy nomination. Simon and Mills won the WGA Award for Best Writing in a Drama for the episode. Simon also received Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award in 2010.


title: David Simon

text: Simon left his job with the Baltimore Sun in 1995 to work full-time on "Homicide: Life on the Street" during the production of the show's fourth season. Simon wrote the teleplay for the season four episodes "Justice: Part 2" and "Scene of the Crime" (with Anya Epstein). For season five he was the show's story editor and continued to contribute teleplays writing the episodes "Bad Medicine" and "Wu's on First?" (again with Epstein). He was credited as a producer on the show's sixth and seventh seasons. He wrote the teleplays for parts two and three of the sixth-season premiere "" (the latter marking his third collaboration with Epstein) and provided the story for the later sixth-season episodes "Full Court Press" and "Finnegan's Wake" (with James Yoshimura). He provided the story for the seventh season episodes "Shades of Gray" (with Julie Martin), "The Same Coin" (again with Yoshimura) and "Self Defense" (with Eric Overmyer). Simon wrote the story and teleplay for the seventh season episodes "The Twenty Percent Solution" and "Sideshow: Part 2". Simon, Martin and teleplay writer T. J. English won the Humanitas Prize in the 60 minutes category for the episode "Shades of Gray". Simon was nominated for a second WGA Award for Best Writing in a Drama for his work on "Finnegan's Wake" with Yoshimura and Mills (who wrote the teleplay).


title: David Simon

text: Simon has said that he thought the show was a "remarkable drama" but that it did not reflect the book. He has also said that when writing for the show he had to put his experiences of the real detectives aside as the characters became quite different, particularly in their more philosophical approach to the job. Simon said that TV must find shorthand ways of referencing anything real.


title: David Simon

text: In 1997 he co-authored, with Ed Burns, "", the true account of a West Baltimore community dominated by a heavy drug market. Simon credits his editor John Sterling with the suggestion that he observe a single drug corner. He took a second leave of absence from the Baltimore Sun in 1993 to research the project. Simon became close to one of his subjects, drug addict Gary McCullough, and was devastated by his death while he was writing the project. Simon says that he approached the research with the abstract idea that his subjects may die because of their addictions but it was not possible to fully prepare for the reality. He remains grateful to his subjects saying "This involved people's whole lives, there's no privacy in it. That was an enormous gift which many, many people gave us. Even the most functional were at war with themselves. But they were not foolish people. And they made that choice."


title: David Simon

text: "The Corner" was named a Notable Book of the Year by "The New York Times". Simon again returned to his journalism career after finishing the book but felt further changed by his experiences. He said he "was less enamored of the braggadocio, all that big, we're-really-having-an-impact talk" and no longer believed that they were making a difference; he left his job at The Sun within a year for work on NBC's "Homicide".


title: David Simon

text: Soon after "Homicide" concluded Simon co-wrote (with David Mills) and produced "The Corner" as a six-hour TV miniseries for HBO.


title: David Simon

text: Simon was the creator, show runner, executive producer and head writer of the HBO drama series "The Wire" for five seasons. Many of "The Wire"'s characters and incidents also came from "". After the fourth season, Simon signed on to produce the fifth and final season of "The Wire", which focused on the role of mass media in society.


title: David Simon

text: Again he worked with Ed Burns on creating the show. Originally they set out to create a police drama loosely based on Burns' experiences when working on protracted investigations of violent drug dealers using surveillance technology. During this time Burns had often faced frustration with the bureaucracy of the police department, which Simon equated with his own ordeals as a police reporter for "The Baltimore Sun". Writing against the background of current events, including institutionalized corporate crime at Enron and institutional dysfunction in the Catholic Church, the show became "more of a treatise about institutions and individuals than a straight cop show."


title: David Simon

text: They chose to take "The Wire" to HBO because of their existing working relationship from "The Corner". Owing to its reputation for exploring new areas, HBO was initially dubious about including a cop drama in their lineup, but eventually agreed to produce the pilot after ordering a further two scripts to see how the series would progress. Carolyn Strauss, the president of HBO entertainment, has said that Simon's argument that the most subversive thing HBO could do was invade the networks' "backyard" of police procedurals helped to persuade them.


title: David Simon

text: The theme of institutional dysfunction was expanded across different areas of the city as the show progressed. The second season focused on the death of working-class America through examination of the city ports. The third season "reflects on the nature of reform and reformers, and whether there is any possibility that political processes, long calcified, can mitigate against the forces currently arrayed against individuals." For the fourth season Simon again turned to Burns' experience, this time his second career as a Baltimore public school teacher in examining the theme of education. The fifth season looked at the media, as well as continuing themes such as politics from earlier seasons.


title: David Simon

text: Simon was reunited with his "The Corner" producers Robert F. Colesberry and Nina K. Noble on "The Wire". Simon credits Colesberry for achieving the show's realistic visual feel. They recruited "Homicide" star and director Clark Johnson to helm the pilot episode. The completed pilot was given to HBO in November 2001. Johnson returned to direct the second episode when the show was picked up, and would direct the series finale as well, in addition to starring in the fifth season.


title: David Simon

text: Simon approached acclaimed crime fiction authors to write for "The Wire". He was recommended the work of George Pelecanos by a colleague while working at the Baltimore Sun because of similarities between their writing. The two writers have much in common including a childhood in Silver Spring, attendance at the University of Maryland and their interest in the "fate of the American city and the black urban poor." Simon did not read Pelecanos initially because of territorial prejudice; Pelecanos is from Washington. Once Simon received further recommendations including one from his wife Laura Lippman he tried Pelecanos' novel "The Sweet Forever" and changed his mind. He sought out Pelecanos when recruiting writers for "The Wire". The two met at the funeral of a mutual friend shortly after Simon delivered the pilot episode. Simon pitched Pelecanos the idea of "The Wire" as a novel for television about the American city as Pelecanos drove him home. Pelecanos became a regular writer and later a producer for the show's second and third seasons. Simon and Pelecanos collaborated to write the episode "Middle Ground" which received the show's first Emmy nomination, in the category Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.


title: David Simon

text: Pelecanos left the production staff following the third season to focus on his next novel; Simon has commented that he missed having him working on the show full-time but was pleased that he continued to write for them and was a fan of the resultant book "The Night Gardener". Similar to Simon's own experience in researching "Homicide" Pelecanos spent time embedded with the Washington DC homicide unit to research the book.


title: David Simon

text: Crime novelist Dennis Lehane has also written for the series starting with the third season. Lehane has commented that he was impressed by Simon and Burns' ear for authentic street slang.


title: David Simon

text: Eric Overmyer was brought in to fill the role of Pelecanos as a full-time writer producer. He had previously worked with Simon on "Homicide" where the two became friends. Simon has said that he was impressed with Overmyer's writing particularly in synthesizing the story for "Margin of Error" as the episode is the height of the show's political storyline but must also progress other plot threads.


title: David Simon

text: Simon and his writing staff were nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2009 ceremony for their work on the fifth season. Simon and Burns collaborated to write the series finale "-30-" which received the show's second Emmy nomination, again in the category Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.


title: David Simon

text: Simon has stated that he finds working with HBO more comfortable than his experiences with NBC on "Homicide" and that HBO is able to allow greater creative control because it is dependent on subscribers rather than on viewing figures. He has said that he feels unable to return to network television because he felt pressure to compromise storytelling for audience satisfaction.


title: David Simon

text: Simon produced and wrote "Generation Kill" for HBO with Ed Burns. They again worked with Nina Noble as a producer. The miniseries is an adaption of the non-fiction book of the same name. It relates the first 40 days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq as experienced by 1st Reconnaissance Battalion and their embedded reporter, Evan Wright. Simon and Burns worked with Wright in adapting his book into the series.


title: David Simon

text: Simon collaborated with Eric Overmyer again on "Treme", a project about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans. Overmyer lives part-time in New Orleans, and Simon believed his experience would be valuable in navigating the "ornate oral tradition" of the city's stories. Simon also consulted with New Orleans natives Donald Harrison Jr., Kermit Ruffins, and Davis Rogan while developing the series. The show focuses on a working-class neighborhood, and is smaller in scope than "The Wire". The series premiered on April 11, 2010, on HBO and ran for four seasons.


title: David Simon

text: "Treme" is named after the Faubourg Treme neighborhood in New Orleans that is home to many of the city's musicians. Simon stated that the series would explore beyond the music scene to encompass political corruption, the public housing controversy, the criminal-justice system, clashes between police and Mardi Gras Indians, and the struggle to regain the tourism industry after the storm. One of the principal characters in the pilot script runs a restaurant. The series was filmed on location and was expected to provide a boost to the New Orleans economy. Simon's casting of the show mirrored that of "The Wire" in using local actors wherever possible. Wendell Pierce, who had previously played Bunk Moreland on "The Wire", stars in the series. Clarke Peters, also of "The Wire", is another series regular. Many other stars of "The Wire" have appeared in "Treme", these include Steve Earle, Jim True-Frost, James Ransone, and Anwan Glover.


title: David Simon

text: In 2014, HBO greenlit production for Simon's next project "Show Me a Hero", a six-hour miniseries co-written with William F. Zorzi and the episodes directed by Academy Award-winner Paul Haggis. The miniseries is an adaptation of the nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin and tells the story of Nick Wasicsko, the youngest big-city mayor in the country who is thrust into racial controversy when a federal court orders to build a small number of low-income housing units in the white neighborhoods of Yonkers, New York. Oscar Isaac stars as Wasicsko and leads a cast, which includes Catherine Keener, Jim Belushi, Bob Balaban and Winona Ryder. The miniseries premiered on August 16, 2015.


title: David Simon

text: "The Deuce" is a 2017 drama television series set in Times Square, New York focusing on the rise of the porn industry in the 1970s-80s. Created and written by Simon along with frequent collaborator George Pelecanos, the series pilot began shooting in October 2015. It was picked up to series in January 2016. It premiered on September 10, 2017, and is broadcast by HBO in the United States.


title: David Simon

text: "The Deuce" tells the story of the legalization and ensuing rise of the porn industry in New York beginning in the 1970s and its ongoing rise through the mid-1980s. Themes explored include the rise of HIV, the violence of the drug epidemic and the resulting real estate booms and busts that coincided with the change.


title: David Simon

text: An adaptation of Philip Roth's novel, "The Plot Against America" is an alternate history told through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey; as they watch the political rise of Charles Lindbergh, an aviator-hero and xenophobic populist, who becomes president and turns the nation toward fascism. The six-part miniseries premiered on March 16, 2020, on HBO.


title: David Simon

text: A miniseries based on the nonfiction book of the same name by "Baltimore Sun" reporter Justin Fenton. The miniseries details the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it. The six-part miniseries premiered on April 25, 2022, on HBO.


title: David Simon

text: Simon is known for his realistic dialogue and journalistic approach to writing. He says that authenticity is paramount and that he writes not with a general audience in mind but with the opinions of his subjects as his priority. He has described his extensive use of real anecdotes and characters in his writing as "stealing life".


title: David Simon

text: In a talk that Simon gave to a live audience in April 2007 at the "Creative Alliance's" storytelling series, Simon disclosed that he had started writing for revenge against John Carroll and Bill Marimow, the two most senior editors at "The Baltimore Sun" when Simon was a reporter at the paper. Simon said he had watched Carroll and Marimow "single-handedly destroy" the newspaper and that he spent over ten years trying to get back at them.


title: David Simon

text: Anything I've ever accomplished as a writer, as somebody doing TV, anything I've ever done in life, down to, like, cleaning up my room, has been accomplished because I was going to show people that they were fucked up, wrong, and that I was the fucking center of the universe and the sooner they got hip to that, the happier they would all be.


title: David Simon

text: One of the actions Simon took was to name a character in "The Wire" after Marimow and make the character "a repellent police-department toady." Carroll left "The Baltimore Sun" to become editor at the "Los Angeles Times" and resigned in 2005 after budget cuts were announced. "He stands up like a [bleeping] hero, takes a bullet," said Simon. In 2006 Marimow was diagnosed with prostate cancer, something that Simon said "took the edge off" his grudge. Carroll and Marimow "were fuel for 10 years of my life. ... And now, I got nothing," Simon said.


title: David Simon

text: When asked about these comments, Simon said that he had spoken with "some hyperbole and, I hope, comic effect", adding that his basic viewpoint was: "that simple revenge is both empty and beside the point and that a good story carefully told has to speak to larger themes. You do not tell an ornate, careful story over ten hours of HBO airtime merely to bust on any given soul."


title: David Simon

text: In an interview in Reason in 2004, Simon said that since leaving the newspaper business he has become more cynical about the power of journalism. "One of the sad things about contemporary journalism is that it actually matters very little. The world now is almost inured to the power of journalism. The best journalism would manage to outrage people. And people are less and less inclined to outrage," said Simon. "I've become increasingly cynical about the ability of daily journalism to effect any kind of meaningful change. I was pretty dubious about it when I was a journalist, but now I think it's remarkably ineffectual."


title: David Simon

text: While testifying at a 2009 Senate hearing regarding the future of journalism in America, Simon indicted what he saw as poor online journalism, calling the phrase citizen journalist "Orwellian to [his] ears." Simon ended his testimony by declaring, "I don't think anything can be done to save high-end journalism."


title: David Simon

text: Simon has described himself as a social democrat, broadly supporting the existence of capitalism while opposing "raw, unencumbered capitalism, absent any social framework, absent any sense of community, without regard to the weakest and most vulnerable classes in society", which he described as "a recipe for needless pain, needless human waste, (and) needless tragedy". He has criticized the idea of trickle-down economics.


title: David Simon

text: In 2013, Simon compared the global surveillance disclosures uncovered by Edward Snowden to a 1980s effort by the City of Baltimore to record the numbers dialed from all pay phones. The city believed that drug traffickers were using pay phones and pagers, and a municipal judge allowed the city to record the dialed numbers. The placement of the payphone number recorders formed the basis of "The Wire"s first season. Simon argued that the media attention regarding the surveillance disclosures is a "faux scandal."


title: David Simon

text: During a November 2013 speech at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, he said that America has become "a horror show" of savage inequality as a result of capitalism run amok, and that "unless we reverse course, the average human being is worthless on planet Earth. Unless we take stock of the fact that maybe socialism and the socialist impulse has to be addressed again; it has to be married as it was married in the 1930s, the 1940s and even into the 1950s, to the engine that is capitalism."


title: David Simon

text: Simon has also spoken out publicly against crime journalist Kevin Deutsch, disputing the portrayal of Baltimore's illegal drug trade in Deutsch's book, "Pill City: How Two Honor Roll Students Foiled the Feds and Built a Drug Empire." Simon has described the book as "a wholesale fabrication."


title: David Simon

text: During the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, Simon praised Bernie Sanders for "rehabilitating and normalizing the term socialist back into American public life", but opposed some attacks against Hillary Clinton which he felt focused on her presumed motives rather than the substance of policies.


title: David Simon

text: In April 2022, David Simon thanked Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for using a quote from the TV series "The Wire" in his court speech and wished good luck to the politician.


title: David Simon

text: In 2006, Simon married best-selling Baltimore novelist and former "Sun" reporter Laura Lippman in a ceremony officiated by John Waters. They have a daughter, who was born in 2010.


title: David Simon

text: Simon's nephew, Jason Simon, is a guitarist and vocalist for the psychedelic rock band Dead Meadow. The band was mentioned in an episode of "The Wire".


title: David Simon

text: Simon was the 2012 commencement speaker for the Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the speaker for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School graduation.


title: David Simon

text: In 2019, Simon joined a host of other writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA after failing to come to an agreement on their "Code of Conduct". Simon's statement to the writers union was widely circulated. He had previously led the rallying cry about the practices of packaging by the major talent agencies.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: Jesse Wayne Johnson (born December 7, 1982) is an American actor. He is the son of actors Don Johnson and Patti D'Arbanville.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: Johnson was born on December 7, 1982 in Los Angeles to actors Don Johnson and Patti D'Arbanville, and was raised in Aspen, Colorado. His parents separated when he was three years old. He has seven half-siblings, including the actress Dakota Johnson.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: In 2001, Jesse made his acting debut in a guest appearance of the CBS television series "Nash Bridges", in the episode "Quack Fever". In 2003, he appeared as Young Lt. Benjamin Tyson in the made-for-television film "Word of Honor". Jesse majored in theater at Occidental College, in Los Angeles, and graduated in 2004.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: He made his feature film debut as Jason in the film "Redline", starring alongside Nathan Phillips and Eddie Griffin. The film was released April 13, 2007 and debuted at #11 on the US Box Office Chart and earned $6.8 million worldwide. The film's critical reaction was extremely negative. One critic called it "idiotic".


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: Also in 2007, he began filming a low budget independent Australian horror film called "Prey". The film, starring Natalie Bassingthwaighte, had a limited release in Australia. Labelled a box office bomb, it earned a lifetime gross of just over A$700.00 and was panned by critics. Jake Wilson, reviewing the film for "The Age" in May, 2009, said: "A film that aims so low and fails so miserably deserves nothing but contempt". The DVD was released in October 2009, both in Australia by Paramount in 2010, and in the US by Xenon in 2011.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: Jesse starred as Damon in the Paramount Digital Entertainment-produced "Circle of Eight", which aired exclusively on Myspace.com. Alongside Rachel Hunter, he appeared in the independent film "My Life: Untitled" (released in 2010) as Bobby. He also starred in the indie comedy "Head Over Spurs in Love" (2010) as Bubba.


title: Jesse Johnson (actor)

text: In 2012, he starred in the Spanish TV series "Con el culo al aire", in the role of Bobby, a young American from a billionaire's family. His most recent work was in the National Geographic Channel's airing of "Killing Lincoln" (2013), in which he portrayed John Wilkes Booth – the actor who assassinated the 16th American president, Abraham Lincoln. His performance has been received with good reviews, with many considering it to be his "breakout role". He played the 'Young Earl McGraw' in season 2 of the El Rey series "From Dusk Till Dawn" aired in September 2015.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), also called Margaret Pole, as a result of her marriage to Sir Richard Pole, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III (all sons of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York), by his wife Isabel Neville. Margaret was one of just two women in 16th-century England to be a peeress in her own right ("suo jure") without a husband in the House of Lords. As one of the few members of the House of Plantagenet to have survived the Wars of the Roses, she was executed in 1541 at the command of King Henry VIII, the second monarch of the House of Tudor, who was the son of her first cousin Elizabeth of York. Pope Leo XIII beatified her as a martyr for the Roman Catholic Church on 29 December 1886.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret was born at Farleigh Castle in Somerset, the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and his wife Isabel Neville, who was the elder daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and his wife Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick. Her maternal grandfather was killed fighting against her uncle, Edward IV, at the Battle of Barnet. Her father, already Duke of Clarence, was then created Earl of Salisbury and of Warwick. Edward IV declared that Margaret's younger brother Edward should be known as Earl of Warwick as a courtesy title, but no peerage was ever created for him. Margaret would have had a claim to the Earldom of Warwick, but the earldom was forfeited on the attainder of her brother Edward.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret's mother died when she was three, and her father had two servants killed who he thought had poisoned her. The Duke of Clarence plotted against Edward IV and in February 1478 was attainted and executed for treason; his lands and titles were forfeited. Edward IV died in 1483, when Margaret was ten. The next year, the late king's marriage was declared invalid by the statute "Titulus Regius" of 1484, making his children illegitimate, and since Margaret and her brother Edward were debarred from the throne by their father's attainder, their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was offered the crown and became king as Richard III. He was married to Anne Neville, a younger sister of Margaret's mother Isabel.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Richard III sent the children to Sheriff Hutton Castle in Yorkshire. In 1485, he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry Tudor, who succeeded him as Henry VII. The new king married Margaret's cousin Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's daughter, and Margaret and her brother were taken into their care. Soon young Edward, a potential York claimant to the throne, was moved to the Tower of London. Edward was briefly displayed in public at St Paul's Cathedral in 1487 in response to the presentation of the impostor Lambert Simnel as the "Earl of Warwick" to the Irish lords.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Shortly thereafter, probably in November 1487, Henry VII gave Margaret in marriage to his cousin, Sir Richard Pole, whose mother was half-sister of the king's mother, Margaret Beaufort. When Perkin Warbeck impersonated Edward IV's presumed-dead son Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, in 1499, Margaret's brother Edward was attainted and executed for involvement in the plot.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Richard Pole held a variety of offices in Henry VII's government, the highest being Chamberlain for Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry's elder son. When Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, Margaret became one of her ladies-in-waiting, but her entourage was dissolved when Arthur died in 1502 aged fifteen.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: When her husband died in 1505, Margaret became a widow with five children. She had a small estate of land, inherited from her husband, but no other income and no prospects. Henry VII paid for Richard's funeral. To ease the situation, Margaret devoted her third son Reginald Pole to the Church, in which he was to have an eventful career as a papal Legate and later as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was to resent her abandonment of him bitterly in later life. After her husband's death, Margaret had such inadequate means to support herself and her children that she was forced to live at Syon Abbey as the guest of the Bridgettine nuns. She remained there until she returned to favour when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon himself in 1509, and Margaret was again appointed as one of her ladies-in-waiting. In 1512, an Act of Parliament restored to Margaret the Earldom of Salisbury and some of her brother's land which had belonged to it, for which she paid 5000 marks (£2666.13s.4d), . Henry VII had controlled them, first while her brother was a minor and then during his imprisonment, and had confiscated them after his trial. However, her brother's Warwick and Spencer [Despencer] estates remained in the hands of the crown.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: As Countess of Salisbury, Margaret managed her lands well, and by 1538 she was the fifth richest peer in England. She was a patron of the new learning, like many Renaissance noblewomen; Gentian Hervet translated Erasmus' "de immensa misericordia Dei" ("The Great Mercy of God") into English for her. Her first son, Henry Pole, was created Baron Montagu, another of the Neville titles; he spoke for the family in the House of Lords. Her second son, Arthur Pole, had a generally successful career as a courtier, becoming one of the six Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Arthur Pole suffered a setback when his patron Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was convicted of treason in 1521, but he was soon restored to favour. He died young about 1526, having married the heir of Roger Lewknor; Margaret and her son Henry pressed Arthur's widow to take a vow of perpetual chastity to preserve her inheritance for her Pole children. Her daughter Ursula married the Duke of Buckingham's son, Henry Stafford, but after the Duke's fall, the couple was given only fragments of his estates.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret's third son, Reginald Pole, studied abroad in Padua; he was Dean of Exeter and Wimborne Minster, Dorset, as well as a canon of York. He had several other livings, although he had not been ordained a priest. In 1529 he represented Henry VIII in Paris, persuading the theologians of the Sorbonne to support Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Her youngest son Geoffrey Pole married well, to Constance, daughter of Edmund Pakenham, and inherited the estate of Lordington in Sussex.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret's own favour at Court varied. She had a dispute over land with Henry VIII in 1518; he awarded the contested lands to the Dukedom of Somerset, which had been held by his Beaufort great-grandfather—and were now in the possession of the Crown. In 1520, Margaret was appointed governess to Henry's daughter Mary; the next year, when her sons were mixed up with Buckingham, she was removed, but she was restored by 1525.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: When Mary was declared a bastard in 1533, Margaret refused to give Mary's gold plate and jewels back to Henry. Mary's household was broken up at the end of the year, and Margaret asked to serve Mary at her own cost, but was not permitted. The Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys suggested two years later that Mary be handed over to Margaret, but Henry refused, calling her "a fool, of no experience".


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: In 1531, Reginald Pole warned of the dangers of the Boleyn marriage. He returned to Padua in 1532, and received a last English benefice in December of that year. Chapuys suggested to Emperor Charles V that Reginald marry Mary and combine their dynastic claims. Chapuys also communicated with Reginald through his brother Geoffrey. Reginald replied to books Henry sent him with his own pamphlet, "pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione", or "de unitate", which denied Henry's position on the marriage of a brother's wife and denied the royal supremacy. Reginald also urged the princes of Europe to depose Henry immediately. Henry wrote to Margaret, who in turn wrote to her son a letter reproving him for his "folly". In May 1536, Reginald finally and definitively broke with the king. After Henry's second wife Anne Boleyn was arrested, and eventually executed, Margaret was permitted to return to Court, albeit briefly.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: In 1537, Reginald (still not ordained) was created a Cardinal. Pope Paul III put him in charge of organising assistance for the Pilgrimage of Grace (and related movements), an effort to organise a march on London to install a conservative Catholic government instead of Henry's increasingly Protestant-leaning one. Neither Francis I of France nor the Emperor supported this effort, and the English government tried to have him assassinated. In 1539, Reginald was sent to the Emperor to organise an embargo against England—the sort of countermeasure he had himself warned Henry was possible.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: As part of the investigations into the so-called Exeter Conspiracy, Geoffrey Pole was arrested in August 1538; he had been corresponding with Reginald, and the investigation of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter (Henry VIII's first cousin and Geoffrey's second cousin) had turned up his name. Geoffrey had appealed to Thomas Cromwell, who had him arrested and interrogated. Under interrogation, Geoffrey said that his eldest brother, Lord Montagu, and the Marquess had been parties to his correspondence with Reginald. Montagu, Exeter, and Margaret were arrested in November 1538.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: In January 1539, Geoffrey was pardoned, but Margaret's son Henry, Baron Montagu (and cousin Exeter) were later executed for treason after trial. In May 1539, Henry, Margaret, Exeter and others were attainted, as Margaret's father had been. This conviction meant they lost their titles and their lands—mostly in the South of England, conveniently located to assist any invasion.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: As part of the evidence for the bill of attainder, Cromwell produced a tunic bearing the Five Wounds of Christ, symbolising Margaret's support for the Church of Rome and the rule of her son Reginald and the king's Roman Catholic daughter Mary. The supposed discovery, six months after her house and effects were searched at her arrest, is likely to have been a fabrication. She was sentenced to death, and could be executed at the king's will.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Margaret Pole, as she was now styled, was held in the Tower of London for two and a half years. She, her grandson Henry (son of her own son Henry), and Exeter's son were held together and supported by the king. She was attended by servants and received an extensive grant of clothing in March 1541. In 1540, Cromwell fell from favour and was attainted and executed.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: On the morning of 27 May 1541, Margaret was told she was to die within the hour. She answered that no crime had been imputed to her. Nevertheless, she was taken from her cell to the place within the precincts of the Tower of London where a low wooden block had been prepared instead of the customary scaffold.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Two written eyewitness reports survive of her execution: by Marillac, the French ambassador; and by Chapuys, ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor. Their accounts differ slightly, with Marillac's report, dispatched two days afterwards, recording that the execution took place in a corner of the Tower with so few people present that, in the evening, news of her execution was doubted. Chapuys wrote two weeks after the execution that 150 witnesses had been present including the Lord Mayor of London.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Chapuys wrote that, "at first, when the sentence of death was made known to her, she found the thing very strange, not knowing of what crime she was accused, nor how she had been sentenced" and that, because the main executioner had been sent north to deal with rebels, the execution was performed by "a wretched and blundering youth who literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces in the most pitiful manner".


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: A third, possibly apocryphal account, described in Burke's Peerage as an invention to explain the appalling circumstances of her death, states that Margaret refused to lay her head on the block, declaiming, "So should traitors do, and I am none"; according to the account, she turned her head "every which way", instructing the executioner that, if he wanted her head, he should take it as he could. Margaret was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London. Her remains were uncovered when the chapel was renovated in 1876.


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: When not at Court, Margaret lived chiefly at Warblington Castle in Hampshire and Bisham Manor in Berkshire. She and her husband were parents to five children:


title: Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

text: Her son, Reginald Pole, said that he would "never fear to call himself the son of a martyr". She was later regarded by Catholics as such and was beatified on 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII. She is commemorated in the dedication of the Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace & Blessed Margaret Pole in Southbourne, Bournemouth.


title: John Matuszak

text: John Daniel Matuszak (October 25, 1950 – June 17, 1989) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League who later became an actor.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak was the first overall pick in the 1973 NFL Draft and played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders until he retired after winning his second Super Bowl in 1981. He participated in the 1978 World's Strongest Man competition, where he placed ninth. As an actor, Matuszak played in both films and television, appearing first as O.W. Shaddock in 1979 in "North Dallas Forty" followed by Tonda in the 1981 film "Caveman" and the deformed Sloth in the 1985 movie "The Goonies". His biography, "Cruisin' with the Tooz", written with Steve Delsohn, was published in 1987.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Audrey and Marvin Matuszak. He had two brothers, but both died of cystic fibrosis at young ages. His one sister also had the disease. The family moved from downtown Milwaukee to Oak Creek, Wisconsin, where Matuszak's classmates ridiculed him as a gawky beanpole. Their disrespect motivated him to develop into a muscular young man, and he became the Wisconsin Class A state champion in the shot put with a throw of . Matuszak was always big for his age, which became an advantage as a defensive lineman in football. He attended Oak Creek High School.


title: John Matuszak

text: After a freshman year playing football at Fort Dodge Junior College in Iowa, Matuszak was recruited to the University of Missouri by Dan Devine. Matuszak enrolled at Mizzou for his sophomore year of college, where he played one season of football for the Tigers as a tight end. Matuszak did not see much playing time at Mizzou because the starting tight end was an excellent blocker. With Dan Devine leaving Missouri for the Green Bay Packers that same year, Matuszak no longer had a spot on the team, and his scholarship was revoked by new coach Al Onofrio. Following his sophomore season at Mizzou, Matuszak transferred to the University of Tampa, where he became the star of their football team. Matuszak was selected to the All American Team 1972. He was also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.


title: John Matuszak

text: In Matuszak's last college football game, Tampa defeated Kent State 21-18 in the Tangerine Bowl. Kent State's standouts included future Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert and Gary Pinkel, who coached Missouri from 2001-15. Another Golden Flashes senior, future six-time national championship coach Nick Saban, suffered a season-ending injury in October. Kent State's coach was Don James, who went on to win the 1991 national championship at Washington.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak was the first pick of the 1973 NFL Draft, selected by the Houston Oilers. In addition to his contract with the Oilers, he joined the Houston Texans of the World Football League (WFL), playing a total of seven plays before a restraining order was served to him during a game, barring him from playing for two teams at the same time. Matuszak said he had no plans to play in that game but requested to play after seeing 25 or so men looking for him on the sidelines. He didn't know what was happening at the time and wanted to avoid confrontation. The displeased Oilers traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs for Curley Culp, another player who had threatened to jump to the WFL, and a first-round draft choice in 1975 on October 22, 1974. The trade was a steal for Houston, where Culp became a Hall of Fame performer when coach Bum Phillips moved Culp to nose tackle in the 3-4 defense in 1975. In 1976, the Kansas City Chiefs traded Matuszak to the Washington Redskins but he was released by the Redskins soon after. Later that year, as a free agent, Matuszak signed with the Raiders. He helped them win two Super Bowls (XI and XV), before retiring after spending the entire 1982 season on injured reserve.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak's football career was often overshadowed by his lifestyle. In his autobiography, he stated that he used drugs and abused alcohol while playing professional football. An article written for "Sports Illustrated"s website in January 2005 named him one of the top five all-time "bad boys" of the NFL.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak was the only one of the first six selections of the 1973 draft to never earn first-team All-Pro honors. Alabama guard John Hannah, selected fourth by the New England Patriots, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991, his first year of eligibility, following a 13-year career, while quarterback Bert Jones (Baltimore Colts), offensive tackle Jerry Sisemore, tight end Charle Young (Philadelphia Eagles), and defensive tackle Dave Butz (St. Louis Cardinals) were all prominent throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s.


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak acted professionally in the 1980s, making appearances in feature films and on television, often portraying football players or gentle giants. His first major role was in the 1979 movie "North Dallas Forty" as a football player. He appeared in the movies "Caveman", "The Ice Pirates", "One Man Force", and "One Crazy Summer," but is frequently remembered as deformed captive Sloth in "The Goonies", the make-up for which took five hours to apply. Matuszak's character Sloth wears an Oakland Raiders shirt in some scenes. He had numerous guest appearances in TV shows such as "Perfect Strangers", "M*A*S*H", "The Dukes of Hazzard", "Hunter", "Silver Spoons", "The A-Team", "1st & Ten" and "Miami Vice".


title: John Matuszak

text: Matuszak died on June 17, 1989, as a result of acute propoxyphene intoxication, an accidental overdose of the prescription drug Darvocet, according to the findings of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. He was 38 years old. The report also said that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (an enlarged heart) and bronchopneumonia had been contributing factors in his death. There were also traces of cocaine found in his bloodstream.


title: The Idiot

text: The Idiot (pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal "The Russian Messenger" in 1868–69.


title: The Idiot

text: The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man." The novel examines the consequences of placing such a singular individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved.


title: The Idiot

text: Joseph Frank describes "The Idiot" as "the most personal of all Dostoevsky's major works, the book in which he embodies his most intimate, cherished, and sacred convictions." It includes descriptions of some of his most intense personal ordeals, such as epilepsy and mock execution, and explores moral, spiritual and philosophical themes consequent upon them. His primary motivation in writing the novel was to subject his own highest ideal, that of true Christian love, to the crucible of contemporary Russian society.


title: The Idiot

text: The artistic method of conscientiously testing his central idea meant that the author could not always predict where the plot was going as he was writing. The novel has an awkward structure, and many critics have commented on its seemingly chaotic organization. According to Gary Saul Morson, ""The Idiot" violates every critical norm and yet somehow manages to achieve real greatness." Dostoevsky himself was of the opinion that the experiment was not entirely successful, but the novel remained his favourite among his works. In a letter


title: The Idiot

text: to Strakhov he wrote: "Much in the novel was written hurriedly, much is too diffuse and did not turn out well, but some of it did turn out well. I do not stand behind the novel, but I do stand behind the idea."


title: The Idiot

text: In September 1867, when Dostoevsky began work on what was to become "The Idiot", he was living in Switzerland with his new wife Anna Grigoryevna, having left Russia in order to escape his creditors. They were living in extreme poverty, and constantly had to borrow money or pawn their possessions. They were evicted from their lodgings five times for non-payment of rent, and by the time the novel was finished in January 1869 they had moved between four different cities in Switzerland and Italy. During this time Dostoevsky periodically fell into the grip of his gambling addiction and lost what little money they had on the roulette tables. He was subject to regular and severe epileptic seizures, including one while Anna was going into labor with their daughter Sofia, delaying their ability to go for a midwife. The baby died aged only three months, and Dostoevsky blamed himself for the loss.


title: The Idiot

text: Dostoevsky's notebooks of 1867 reveal deep uncertainty as to the direction he was taking with the novel. Detailed plot outlines and character sketches were made, but were quickly abandoned and replaced with new ones. In one early draft, the character who was to become Prince Myshkin is an evil man who commits a series of terrible crimes, including the rape of his adopted sister (Nastasya Filippovna), and who only arrives at goodness by way of his conversion through Christ. By the end of the year, however, a new premise had been firmly adopted. In a letter to Apollon Maykov, Dostoevsky explained that his own desperate circumstances had "forced" him to seize on an idea that he had considered for some time but had been afraid of, feeling himself to be artistically unready for it. This was the idea to "depict a completely beautiful human being". Rather than bring a man to goodness, he wanted to start with a man who was already a truly Christian soul, someone who is essentially innocent and deeply compassionate, and test him against the psychological, social and political complexities of the modern Russian world. It was not only a matter of how the good man responded to that world, but of how it responded to him. Devising a series of scandalous scenes, he would "examine each character's emotions and record what each would do in response to Myshkin and to the other characters." The difficulty with this approach was that he himself did not know in advance how the characters were going to respond, and thus he was unable to pre-plan the plot or structure of the novel. Nonetheless, in January 1868 the first chapters of "The Idiot" were sent off to "The Russian Messenger".


title: The Idiot

text: Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to Russia having spent the past four years in a Swiss clinic for treatment of a severe epileptic condition. On the journey, Myshkin meets a young man of the merchant class, Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, and is struck by his passionate intensity, particularly in relation to a woman—the dazzling society beauty Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova—with whom he is obsessed. Rogozhin has just inherited a very large fortune due to the death of his father, and he intends to use it to pursue the object of his desire. Joining in their conversation is a civil servant named Lebedyev—a man with a profound knowledge of social trivia and gossip. Realizing who Rogozhin is, Lebedyev firmly attaches himself to him.


title: The Idiot

text: The purpose of Myshkin's trip is to make the acquaintance of his distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna, and to make inquiries about a matter of business. Lizaveta Prokofyevna is the wife of General Epanchin, a wealthy and respected man in his mid-fifties. When the Prince calls on them he meets Gavril Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Ganya), the General's assistant. The General and his business partner, the aristocrat Totsky, are seeking to arrange a marriage between Ganya and Nastasya Filippovna. Totsky had been the orphaned Nastasya Filippovna's childhood guardian, but he had taken advantage of his position to groom her for his own sexual gratification. As a grown woman, Nastasya Filippovna has developed an incisive and merciless insight into their relationship. Totsky, thinking the marriage might settle her and free him to pursue his desire for marriage with General Epanchin's eldest daughter, has promised 75,000 rubles. Nastasya Filippovna, suspicious of Ganya and aware that his family does not approve of her, has reserved her decision, but has promised to announce it that evening at her birthday soirée. Ganya and the General openly discuss the subject in front of Myshkin. Ganya shows him a photograph of her, and he is particularly struck by the dark beauty of her face.


title: The Idiot

text: Myshkin makes the acquaintance of Lizaveta Prokofyevna and her three daughters—Alexandra, Adelaida and Aglaya. They are all very curious about him and not shy about expressing their opinion, particularly Aglaya. He readily engages with them and speaks with remarkable candor on a wide variety of subjects—his illness, his impressions of Switzerland, art, philosophy, love, death, the brevity of life, capital punishment, and donkeys. In response to their request that he speak of the time he was in love, he tells a long anecdote from his time in Switzerland about a downtrodden woman—Marie—whom he befriended, along with a group of children, when she was unjustly ostracized and morally condemned. The Prince ends by describing what he divines about each of their characters from studying their faces and surprises them by saying that Aglaya is almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna.


title: The Idiot

text: The prince rents a room in the Ivolgin apartment, occupied by Ganya's family and another lodger called Ferdyschenko. There is much angst within Ganya's family about the proposed marriage, which is regarded, particularly by his mother and sister (Varya), as shameful. Just as a quarrel on the subject is reaching a peak of tension, Nastasya Filippovna herself arrives to pay a visit to her potential new family. Shocked and embarrassed, Ganya succeeds in introducing her, but when she bursts into a prolonged fit of laughter at the look on his face, his expression transforms into one of murderous hatred. The Prince intervenes to calm him down, and Ganya's rage is diverted toward him in a violent gesture. The tension is not eased by the entrance of Ganya's father, General Ivolgin, a drunkard with a tendency to tell elaborate lies. Nastasya Filippovna flirtatiously encourages the General and then mocks him. Ganya's humiliation is compounded by the arrival of Rogozhin, accompanied by a rowdy crowd of drunks and rogues, Lebedyev among them. Rogozhin openly starts bidding for Nastasya Filippovna, ending with an offer of a hundred thousand rubles. With the scene assuming increasingly scandalous proportions, Varya angrily demands that someone remove the "shameless woman". Ganya seizes his sister's arm, and she responds, to Nastasya Filippovna's delight, by spitting in his face. He is about to strike her when the Prince again intervenes, and Ganya slaps him violently in the face. Everyone is deeply shocked, including Nastasya Filippovna, and she struggles to maintain her mocking aloofness as the others seek to comfort the Prince. Myshkin admonishes her and tells her it is not who she really is. She apologizes to Ganya's mother and leaves, telling Ganya to be sure to come to her birthday party that evening. Rogozhin and his retinue go off to raise the 100,000 rubles.


title: The Idiot

text: Among the guests at the party are Totsky, General Epanchin, Ganya, his friend Ptitsyn (Varya's fiancé), and Ferdyshchenko, who, with Nastasya Filippovna's approval, plays the role of cynical buffoon. With the help of Ganya's younger brother Kolya, the Prince arrives, uninvited. To enliven the party, Ferdyshchenko suggests a game where everyone must recount the story of the worst thing they have ever done. Others are shocked at the proposal, but Nastasya Filippovna is enthusiastic. When it comes to Totsky's turn he tells a long but innocuous anecdote from the distant past. Disgusted, Nastasya Filippovna turns to Myshkin and demands his advice on whether or not to marry Ganya. Myshkin advises her not to, and Nastasya Filippovna, to the dismay of Totsky, General Epanchin and Ganya, firmly announces that she is following this advice. At this point, Rogozhin and his followers arrive with the promised 100,000 rubles. Nastasya Filipovna is preparing to leave with him, exploiting the scandalous scene to humiliate Totsky, when Myshkin himself offers to marry her. He speaks gently and sincerely, and in response to incredulous queries about what they will live on, produces a document indicating that he will soon be receiving a large inheritance. Though surprised and deeply touched, Nastasya Filipovna, after throwing the 100,000 rubles in the fire and telling Ganya they are his if he wants to get them out, chooses to leave with Rogozhin. Myshkin follows them.


title: The Idiot

text: For the next six months, Nastasya Filippovna remains unsettled and is torn between Myshkin and Rogozhin. Myshkin is tormented by her suffering, and Rogozhin is tormented by her love for Myshkin and her disdain for his own claims on her. Returning to Petersburg, the Prince visits Rogozhin's house. Myshkin becomes increasingly horrified at Rogozhin's attitude to her. Rogozhin confesses to beating her in a jealous rage and raises the possibility of cutting her throat. Despite the tension between them, they part as friends, with Rogozhin even making a gesture of concession. But the Prince remains troubled and for the next few hours he wanders the streets, immersed in intense contemplation. He suspects that Rogozhin is watching him and returns to his hotel where Rogozhin—who has been hiding in the stairway—attacks him with a knife. At the same moment, the Prince is struck down by a violent epileptic seizure, and Rogozhin flees in a panic.


title: The Idiot

text: Recovering, Myshkin joins Lebedyev (from whom he is renting a dacha) in the summer resort town Pavlovsk. He knows that Nastasya Filippovna is in Pavlovsk and that Lebedyev is aware of her movements and plans. The Epanchins, who are also in Pavlovsk, visit the Prince. They are joined by their friend Yevgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, a handsome and wealthy military officer with a particular interest in Aglaya. Aglaya, however, is more interested in the Prince, and to Myshkin's embarrassment and everyone else's amusement, she recites Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight" in a reference to his noble efforts to save Nastasya Filippovna.