Chris Nashawaty Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Chris Nashawaty is a writer, editor, film critic, pop-culture savant, and the author of several books about movies and pop culture.

Readers may know him from writing Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story as well as his book The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982.

He was born in 1969 and used to be a movie critic for Entertainment Weekly. He works at Netflix Tudum. He attended Northwestern University, where he graduated with a master’s degree in journalism. He also attended Connecticut College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in arts.

Once college ended, he served as a reporter for Reuters in Jerusalem. He then served as an editor, writer, and movie critic for Entertainment Weekly, working there for twenty-five years.

He has reviewed various books for publications such as The New York Times. Nashawaty has also been a writer for Sports Illustrated and Inc. He has written articles that have been featured in AARP and Fast Company. His writing has also been featured in places such as Esquire and Esquire UK.

He was named as one of three editors besides Chad Oppenheim and Matt Stone on the 2025 book RIDE- Most Iconic Wheels of the Silver Screen (For Movie & Car Lovers). Today he lives with his family in Los Angeles.

Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story is a 2018 book by Chris Nashawaty. If you have been looking forward to finding more about this movie and count it among your favorites, this is the perfect book to allow you to do so.

Caddyshack has a special place in many moviegoer’s hearts. It’s one of the most loved comedies to ever come out and is a story of the snobs vs. the slobs, involving working class kids being put up against the white collar clowns that force them to haul around their gold bags in the hot summer sun.

The movie has all kinds of interesting features– drugs, sex, and even a candy bar in a scene that is difficult to forget. The movie that is such a classic and that everyone loves did not start out that way. The people who made it also didn’t have the word classic in mind once the cameras got started.

Inside this book, Chris takes on the iconic movie that so many people love and goes behind the scenes. In the process, he follows the rise of some of the greatest minds in comedy as they come together to form The National Lampoon and end up turning the entertainment industry on its head as they have a huge impact on pop culture as everyone knows it.

This is a completely unique and eye opening narrative that revolves around one of the most surreal and interesting film productions that has ever gone on. It also is a portrait of some of the largest names in Hollywood.

Find out more about the making of Caddyshack as well as the entertaining characters who were involved by getting a copy of Caddyshack today– a great pairing to have on you while the movie is playing in the background or just reading on your own. Get this book for yourself and for the Caddyshack fan in your life!

The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982 is a 2024 book by Chris Nashawaty. Whether you’re familiar with this author’s work or not, this entertainment journalist knows his stuff when it comes to pop culture and movies. This nonfiction book is one that is full of wonderful little trivia bits and overall just a celebration of a specific time in the cinema of the eighties, focusing on how eight incredible science-fiction films changed the course of Hollywood forever.

This is one of those fun reads that is not going to take up too much time and that you can break up into parts or just devour in one long reading. It’s a great book if you are familiar with the eighties and the movies that came out during that time and if you are not, it’s a great way to find out more about that time and even perhaps be inspired to check out some of the classics if you have not seen them already.

It was 1982 during the summer when eight different science fiction movies came out, all within six weeks of each other. These include E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, Conan the Barbarian, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior. They were able to change and alter the careers of some of the biggest names in Hollywood– or who would go on to become some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Their production and release have changed the way that movies are made to this very day.

Inside of this book, the author outlines to the reader the genesis of these movies that featured all-star players and more. Steven Spielberg was at the height of his abilities and came up with E.T. with it in mind as an unlikely family story. He also took over the production of Poltergeist, a horror film that had been going through some troubled production.

Then there was Ridley Scott, who has just coming off of Alien. He tries out a Philip K. Dick story that gets adapted to become Blade Runner. While it did not do so well at the box office, it ended up being a cult classic in the end. More stories like this come out for movies such as Tron, The Thing, and Conan the Barbarian.

As a whole, these movies show a turning point in the history of Hollywood, a time when film executives start to understand the potential that high concept films have when paired with an enthusiastic fan base, the potential for merchandising, and lots of possible sequels.

Well researched and energetically told, this is the story of how a certain era of movies ended up having an incredible impact on the film industry moving forward. Check out The Future Was Now to follow along with every word and maybe even learn some new things about your favorite movies!