The Secret History of Star Wars

By: Michael Kaminski

Narrated by: Josh Robert Thompson

Length: 24 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Star Wars is one of the most important cultural phenomena of the Western world. The tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker has become modern myth, an epic tragedy of the corruption of a young man in love into darkness, the rise of evil, and the power of good triumphing in the end. But it didn't start out that way. In this thorough account of one of cinema's most lasting works, Michael Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written, from its beginnings as a science fiction fairy tale to its development over three decades into the epic we now know, chronicling the methods, techniques, thought processes, and struggles of its creator. For this unauthorized account, he has pored through over 400 sources, from interviews to original scripts, to track how the most powerful modern epic in the world was created, expanded, and finalized into the tale an entire generation has grown up with.

©2008 Michael Kaminski (P)2014 Novel Audio

Truly in depth and exhaustive research

A truly in depth analysis on the history and evolution of Star Wars that over the years has gone through some incorrect revisionist history.

Narration was awesome and exciting to listen too with voice caricatures spot on. I felt like I was listening to a documentary.

Highly recommended.

Very Informative if wordy.

This book is super informative. I like how is breaks down the writing process if the whole saga (Ep. 1-6 at time of writing) and completely debunks the legend of the saga being planned out from the very beginning. Thoroughly researched with sources from all the way back in the early 1970s, the book clearly outlines how each movie was developed, how they changed, and what was set aside or added draft by draft.
My only negative is that it can be a little repetitive. quotes are used multiple times throughout the book. Each time they are used different parts of the quotes are pointed out to emphasize the point being made at the time. But it can get a little repetitive when listening. I'm sure it works better when looking at a page of the book. But when listening I often through, "Yeah, I remember when you said X three chapters ago. I get the point you are making you don't need to use the quote to prove." I think, because the author is breaking down the myth George Lucas has built up around himself that he's some sort of creative genius that had this entire saga planned out, he's trying to be really careful when making his points. He always backs up his claims with quotes and other research.
I think having the mystique around the writing of the saga taken away actually adds to the story. Lucas is not a genius with a mind no one else can fathom, but he is a very hard-working filmmaker who worked collaboratively with a lot of other people to help create something that is amazing. That story is inspiring. Anyone could potentially do it. This book ultimately makes me want to go out and collaborate with other artists and make art. It probably won't be the next Star Wars......but it could be.

Star Wars history

This book is a 5 out of 5 but I️ had to give I️t a 4 due to its repetitiveness .

You need to not only love star wars but want to know about The creative process behind movie making the history of film. I️ really enjoyed hear how the characters came to be and where many of the ideas for the story came from but it was repeated time and again throughout the book at 611 pages it’s just way too long really glad I️t was an audio book or I️ would not have got through I️t .

learned so much about Lucas, as well as Star Wars

I truly enjoyed listening to this. yes, there was some repetition in some of the facts/stories, so there I gave the story 4 stars. but in most aspects, I could understand why, as you were often being transported back and forth at times; and other times, having to refer back to statements n whether or not they were congruent with later statements.

Josh Robert Thompson did an excellent job in his narration, making me feel as though I were listening to interview clips, rather than just words on a page. I know he wasn't able to accurately capture *everyone's* voice, but he did a great job, overall.

the only thing I was surprised not to hear in the book, was more about the Clone Wars series that aired between Episodes 2 and 3. I know Lucas had a hand in that. granted, there was a brief mention, in regards to 1 character, but that's about it. I'm also curious to see if there will ever be a re-release, with the addition of Lucas selling off SW to Disney, the sequel trilogy, n subsequent TV series that eventually expanded the story.

if you're a big enough Star Wars fan, or even curious about Lucas n how he came to make em, definitely listen to this book!

Great listen!

If you are looking for more information than you'll ever want to know about Star Wars, this book is for you. Pretty good over all, though! The reader's impersonation of George Lucas 's voice was dead on! Recommended.

More academic, and that's not a bad thing.

I listened to this immediately after listening to How Star Wars Conquered The Universe. While it was full of analysis, critique and of course all manner of trivia and apocrypha, it was handled in a more literary and academic way than I expected. These two audiobooks make wonderful companions to each other.

Fascinating and well-performed!

The book is very scholarly and well-sourced. The narrator was perfect, and even did some pretty amusing (and convincing) impressions of Lucas and many of the other players involved when quoting them!

Masterful Performance of Entertaining Research

The George Lucas impression was so good, I just thought it was him the first several times. (chuckles in George Lucas).

This is a subject I know rather well, but I still leaned a lot and was captivated the entire time.

Star Wars is simultaneously my favorite and most hated body of fiction. I have similar feelings about its creator, Mr Lucas. This exploration of the process, from start to finish, of his development of The Saga did create more sympathy for him than I have felt previously. While at the same time confronting him with all of the contradictory versions (not to mention blatant lies) of the origin story he's told along the way.

At times, I felt I could have written this book, given my own study of the subject matter. But the depth of research (with sources!) purely astounds and is convincing in its thoroughness.

The reader does a fantastic job- he has a clear enough "documentary" voice for the majority of the text, but uses very convincing impressions of the "cast" that you get the feeling you're listening to the actual people. As mentioned upfront, the Lucas impression is amazing!

Excellent book. Excellent narration. Will be recommending broadly.

Not much of a secret, honestly.

As many people have noted, this is a book for the diehards. It is long. It is detail packed. It is repetitious, It is exhaustive in every sense of the word. And, to be blunt, it's an awful lot of words to say what anyone who has followed the Star Wars franchise since the early days already knows: George Lucas never really had a master plan and has been making it up or modifying the past (retcon, as the author helpfully defines multiple times) as he sees fit since the beginning.
That said, the research here is very impressive. Kaminiski has really done his homework, a chore which can't have been too easy given the contradictions of the mountains of Star Wars info available and the way Lucas plays things close the the vest, letting out only what hewants you to know at that time. It's fascinating to hear the script changes or Lucas's own words changing over time. And its fun, and a bit frustrating, to see how Lucas twisted the franchise into a pretzel to fit whatever his vision was that week.
But, I have to admit, this book wore me out. Maybe I'm not an uber fan, just a fanatic? There were only so many times I could hear essentially similar information about this change or that. The minutia is impressive, but overwhelming at times.
Still, if you want to know exactly how we got from the original 1977 movie to the whole universe it is today, I doubt you'll find a better resource.

A lot of good info...Repetitive

A must "read" for the full on fan. A lot of George Lucas quotes anyone listening would swear it was done by George himself! That, plus some darn good Scorsese, Coppola, and others thrown in. I learned alot about 70's Lucas, THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Raiders to boot. This does go extensively IMHO into each draft of the first 3 movies' scripts and even into the prequels. It does tend to theorize alot about why or when the Father/Son story was developed, based on research; causing the author to double back a lot. It was very thorough, and Josh Robert Thompson made it enjoyable with his impersonations.