"An entertaining and revealing addition to the variety of books already written about the bizarre institution of the Oscars."

Doug Brode, Prizewinning Novelist, Screenwriter, Biographer and Journalist

"Aubrey Malone, the superb Irish critic of American popular culture, probes profundities, ironies and contradictions that elude his Yankee counterparts."

Jim MacKillop, University of Syracuse Press

“John Ford never won an Oscar for directing a Western, Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar at all. Midnight Cowboy lost to an old cowboy and Crash froze out yet more cowboys for very different reasons. Did Judy Davis really win over Marisa Tomei? And what was the deal with Moonlight? Yes, the Oscars have thrown up a lot of ‘almost rans’, ‘not quite’s, and more than one ‘really?’. Aubrey Malone takes a look at the ‘who wasn’t who’ of the Oscars since their inception right up to the present, and the result is a very entertaining read. Dive in and enjoy the astonishment.”

Dr. Harvey O’Brien,

Professor of Film Studies, UCD School of English, Drama and Film, Ireland

"[This is] a history of the Oscars in twelve chapters [delivered] with cool detachment. Aubrey Malone unravels the meltdown of Hollywood Oscar Nights. [There are] copious quotes from legions of Oscar winners that trash the process. No Oscar for Best Picture for Duck Soup, The Great Dictator or City Lights. Citizen Kane lost Best Picture to the now unwatchable How Green is My Valley. Bogart got his Oscar for his worst movie African Queen. Cagney got zilch for White Heat. Yoink. Malone [has written a] fast-paced comedy thriller, unravelling how the good, the bad and the awful line up. His knowledge of cinema is vast. His conclusions give the Oscar plot away."

Kevin Kiely, author of "UCD Belfield Metaphysical: A Retrospective"

"Give Aubrey Malone a gold statuette for ingenuity. And the Loser Is... a clever history of Oscars biggest winners and losers, with a particular emphasis on the latter. It's all here: money, mishaps, mistakes and maladies that shape who gets snazzy hardware and who doesn't. Or what one major star calls "a silly bingo game." Exhaustively researched and thoroughly engaging, this book lift's the curtain on Hollywood's most coveted prize."

Marshall Terrill

Author of "Steve McQueen: The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon"