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In their 2015 article on stuntwomen, Miranda J. Banks and Lauren Steimer argue that the figure of the stunt double is subjected to a process of erasure throughout the production of the action film or series, and most certainly in popular press accounts that promote the idea of stars (both male and female) as the performers of their own stunts. This erasure is also evident in the comparative lack of scholarly work on the labour-intensive – and often life-threatening – contributions made by stunt performers to the on-screen fantasy of the kick-ass action star. The Bond franchise has seen its female characters increasingly defined by their all-action credentials and, consequently, the size of the stunt team has grown with a higher number of female stunt performers being included. This article looks at how stuntwomen have contributed to the spectacle of the Bond franchise, including driver Jessica Hawkins and the much in demand Marie Mouroum, both of whom worked on No Time to Die (2021). As behind-the-scenes footage of most action franchises becomes more available and often forms part of the marketing of franchise cinema, including the Bond films, the concept of erasure will be examined in relation to these contemporary contexts of production. The increased diversity of action heroines also opens up sites of exploration around women of colour as part of these production processes, both on-screen and behind the scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Western Lands, Western Voices: Essays on Public History in the American West" is a collection of essays edited by Gregory E. Smoak that explores public history in the American West. The book covers topics such as public lands, Native sovereignty, cultural diversity, and frontier myths. It emphasizes the importance of shared authority and collaboration with community partners in public history work. The volume also addresses the relationship between public and academic history and provides valuable insights for historians and graduate students. Another book mentioned in the text, "Time in the Wilderness: The Formative Years of John 'Black Jack' Pershing in the American West" by Tim McNeese, is a well-researched biography that focuses on Pershing's military career prior to World War I. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the figure of Modesty Blaise as an action heroine in the canon of British espionage texts. It argues that the character and her stories offer multiple, liminal spaces for investigating and challenging ideas about gender, nation and class. It also addresses the current landscape of action-adventure films at a time when there are increased calls for more female-centric vehicles and gender-blind casting. While the gender politics of the Modesty Blaise franchise make for fascinating analysis, they are also played out against a backdrop of global politics. This can be seen in the first of the novels – simply entitled ModestyBlaise (1965) – and to some extent in Joseph Losey's loose adaptation of the book in 1966. Modesty's employment by the British secret service coincides with the dismantling of the British Empire, and the negotiation of gender identity that is a recurring theme in the stories intersects with the post-imperial, post-colonial concerns that dominated geopolitics at the time the original texts were released. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1949 the German-bornauteurMax Ophüls made two films that addressed issues of post-war ideology and society in America.Caughtengages with the commodification of the female subject and the preoccupation with capitalist success, both of which are promulgated through aspects of the media as represented in the film.The Reckless Momentexamines the stultifying confines of the family unit and the hypocrisy surrounding notions of class and social standing within American society. Ophüls uses his trademark visual style to frame and interrogate the characters and themes; and in both films the British actor James Mason takes lead roles, his European ‘otherness’ providing the filter through which Ophüls’ indictment of the dominant social order in the post-war period is viewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' health care system is mired in uncertainty. Public opinion on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA") is undeniably mixed and politicized. The individual mandate, tax subsidies, and Medicaid expansion dominate the discussion. This Article argues that the ACA and reform discourse have given short shrift to a more static problem: the law of emergency care. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 ("EMTALA") requires most hospitals to screen patients for emergency medical conditions and provide stabilizing treatment regardless of patients' insurance status or ability to pay. Remarkably, this law strengthened the health safety net in a country that has no universal health care. But it is an unfunded mandate that responded to the problem of emergency care in a flawed fashion and contributed to the supposed "free rider" problem that the ACA attempted to cure. But the ACA has also not been effective at addressing the issue of emergency care. The ACA's architects reduced funding for hospitals that serve a disproportionate percentage of the medically indigent but did not anticipate the Supreme Court's ruling in NFIB v. Sebelius, which made Medicaid expansion optional. Public and non-profit hospitals now face a scenario of less funding and potentially higher emergency room utilization due to continued uninsurance or underinsurance. Alternatives to the ACA have been insufficiently attentive to the importance of emergency care in our health system. This Article contends that any proposal that does not seriously consider EMTALA is incomplete and bound to produce some of the same problems that have dogged the American health care system for the past few decades. Moreover, the Article shows how notions of race, citizenship, and deservingness have filtered into this health care trajectory, and in the context of reform, have the potential to exacerbate existing health inequality. The paper concludes with normative suggestions on how to the mitigate EMTALA's problems in ways that might improve population health.