The Classic Era of the American Pulp Magazine

Compiled by Peter Haining

ISBN 10: 1853753882 / ISBN 13: 9781853753886

Published by Prion Books, London, 2000

About this Item

Hardback in jacket. Clean & tight. No inscriptions. Flat pages. Jacket is not torn. Dispatched with TRACKING boxed in cardboard. ref SH105. The Classic Era of the American Pulp Magazine. Compiled by Peter Haining. Publised by Prion Books, London in the year 2000.

Seller Inventory # 035317

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Classic Era of the American Pulp Magazine
• Publisher: Prion Books, London
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853753882
• ISBN 13: 9781853753886
• Binding: Hard Boards
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

The era between the wars in America was on of dramatic change and uncertainty, a time of sexual liberation, Prohibition, organized crime and the Great Depression. At such times of flux people look to escapism and fantasy to fill out their humdrum and troubled lives. Along with movies and radio, came the spectacular rise of the pulp magazines. The pulp magazines developed out of the 19th-century dime novels and were eventually overtaken by comics and the arrival of the first paperback books, but for a brief period between the 20s and 40s the pulp magazines ruled supreme. Their lurid colour cover art depicting alluring sex and thrilling violence, with stories to match inside, fuelled the dreams and nightmares of a generation of readers. Ten inches by seven, for a few cents they offered what young red-blooded Americans want: sex, action and adventure. And what's more amongst the sleaze these magazines were the first to foster the talents of writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and John Wyndam, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain. From the cheap thrills of the "hot" and "spicy" pulps and the sexual sadism and Grand Guignol of the "shudder" pulps to the weird worlds of fantasy, sci-fi and horror pulps, Peter Haining takes us on a tour of their publishing history and in particular their artistry.