|
| The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America | 
 enlarge | Author: David Hajdu
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $13.35
You Save: $12.65 (49%)
New (38) Used (15) Collectible (2) from $13.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 8845
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 0374187673
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.232
EAN: 9780374187675
ASIN: 0374187673
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
|
| Customer Reviews:
 I may be too dumb for this book April 30, 2008
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
I bought this book due to an appreciation for the issue of censorship and because I enjoyed the EC books, which have been reprinted recently in hardcover. However, I found this book to read almost like an encyclopedia. It's definitely well-researched but written in a tedious, drone-like style. Rarely have I read a book where I couldn't figure out the definition of a word I didn't know within the context of the sentence, but that happened numerous times here. People come and go, names are brought up and never mentioned again, other works are cited, but all in all the book couldn't keep my interest. Most disappointingly, I didn't feel the book really showed how the comic-book scare "changed the world," it just said it did. Perhaps I'm not the target audience for this style of writing, so look at this review as a friendly 'heads-up'- if you're looking for a lighter read, skip this book. Otherwise, enjoy.
 My Two Cents On The Ten-Cent Plague March 27, 2008
6 out of 15 found this review helpful
I found David Hajdu's book singularly diverting, entertaining, and informative. Most of all, and I can't quite define how or why, I found "The Ten-Cent Plague" to be downright cozy. Perhaps because I think of that era that way; nostalgia, I suppose.
I applaud Mr. Hajdu's unquestionable ability to vividly introduce the reader to (or remind him of; depending on one's age) an extraordinarily different era; a better time than this, in my humble opinion. He's a wonderful researcher and writer. But....
First, an intelligent and reasonable argument can be made that certain comic books were bizarre and lurid, and that their influence upon the young and impressionable wasn't exactly wholesome or salubrious. Mr. Hajdu's sneering dismissal of this viewpoint hardly indicates sophistication (as much as he may want to think that it does). Mind you, I'm not necessarily making this argument. I was an avid comic-book reader myself, and look how I turned out! My point is that such an argument isn't groundless, nor is it inherently evil. After all, contrary to what many people believe, there is nothing even remotely anti-American about a given community insisting on certain values and standards of conduct, and in employing censorship as a means. Until the egregious 1970s, the only form of censorship the courts would condemn and prohibit was government censorship; each community had the right and duty to establish and enforce its own standards.
Second, despite Mr, Hajdu's best efforts, he doesn't persuade (he certainly didn't persuade me) that the great comic-book scare was particularly scary. And this "scare" changed America? Oh, please.
Mr. Hajdu is more successful as an observer than as a commentator. And it is the hyperbole and silliness of some of his comments and historical claims that cost him a star. Still, four stars is nothing to sneeze at and I do indeed recommend this book.
 The evils done in the name of "good" May 25, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Probably one of the greatest evils in society are the self-righteous moralists who want to rid the world of what they perceive as sinful, usually saying it's "for the children". Usually, the things they want to actually get rid of are merely items that encourage free thought or seemingly contradict their own narrow dogma. Thus today, we get those who want to ban Harry Potter books not because of any proven harm, but merely the fact that they don't fall into their own interpretation of good and evil. It's not enough to choose to ignore the items, but also to deprive others of their joy.
David Hajdu's The Ten Cent Plague details one such situation that occurred in the early 1950s and focused on comic books. This was an era when comics were at a creative and commercial peak, dealing with not only the superhero genre, but also horror, crime, war and romance. While some of it was over-the-top, it also provided entertainment and occasionally delivered a message as well.
The main villain in this piece is Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, a book that alleged links between comic books and juvenile delinquency, links that were often weak at best, and completely fabricated in other cases. In this Legion of Doom, however, Wertham is merely the biggest name, but there are others as well, driven to hound the comic book industry out of existence. They would use book-burnings, boycotts and the police to get their way, and to a large extent, they would win. Due to their efforts, the Comics Code was instituted, resulting in comics that went from being fun (if edgy) to watered-down pap fit for only the youngest kids. It was like replacing Bugs Bunny and Homer Simpson with Baby Huey and the Care Bears.
It would take decades for the comic books to get back much of the creativity they lost, and commercially, they would never be as dominant again. Yet there were still heroes in this era - most notably Bill Gaines - but they could never quite grasp the significance of Wertham and company until it was too late. Around the only positive that came out of this period was Mad Magazine, which Gaines was able to squeeze past the Comics Code by changing its classification from comic book to magazine.
Hajdu's writing is always engaging. I would have liked a few more illustrations but that's a minor quibble. Overall, this is a good book of relatively modern history, not only giving a good look at another era, but also providing a valuable lesson that too many times, the ones who say they are protecting "the children" from evil may be doing the actual evil themselves.
 A decent book that should have been better May 25, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was recommended along with Amy Kiste Nyberg's "Seal of Approval". This one is more of a history and biography of the people, Nyberg's is more of an academic study. I'd 4-star this if it had presented itself as a history and a biography, but since it purports to be a review of the issues as well as the people I 3-star it - if you promise something you have to deliver it.
The book is about the people who worked in the comic book industry and the development of that industry up to the institution of the Comics Code, a self-regulatory system enacted to avoid government regulation of the comics industry. That's not actually what the book says it's about - it says it's about the industry as a whole and the impact of the Code - but I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.
I kill me...
Seriously, this is an interesting bit of history and stands on its own there. It recounts the business, and the political and cultural environment in the 1950s that all but killed the business. But it's those words "all but" that make the big difference between what this book purported to be and what it is. The fact is, comic books survived. They were published through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. They started coming back into their own in the 1980s, and by the 1990s the graphic novel craze had brought them right back. How did this happen? You won't find out in this book. Considering its subtitle is "The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America" I would have expected to see it deal with events both before and after. It doesn't.
Net-net: if you're looking for a historical document to describe a period of time and the people who were active in it, this book does that very well. The author is a journalist and uses those skills. Those aren't really the kinds of books I usually buy or read for pleasure, but your mileage may vary. I would have liked to have known the answers to questions like:
- Did companies that were subject to the Comics Code sell more issues than companies that weren't?
- Did parents actually consider whether a particular book was subject to the Comics Code when allowing their children to purchase?
- Did members of the Code try to push its limits or self-censor to make sure they stayed well inside its scope?
Without them, it was instructive for me and not a waste of time from a work perspective. With them, I would have made all my colleagues buy it. But this would have taken an author like Niall Ferguson, and this author isn't Niall Ferguson.
The other 50s witch-hunt April 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
While most people are well aware of McCarthyism, the tale of the persecution of comic-book writers by moral do-gooders and other pests remains unknown except to those who either lived through it, or younger comic-book fans that know their history. Hopefully, Hajdu's compelling new book will change all of that.
The book covers comic-books from the post World War 2 era to the late 50s, and describes the rise, reign and tragic fall (and neutering, under the 'Comics Code') of comic books as an industry, until their later revivals.
It was quite saddening to read of the numerous people who put their hearts and souls into their work, and how they were essentially forced out of their jobs and treated as social pariahs. The modern day attacks upon video-games mirror the attacks on comics in the 50s.
Hadju depicts comics as being the unsung hero in rebellion from established, conservative norms. While rock n' roll is often blamed for this triumph, he shows a very clear generational divide between parents and young adults over comic books as well, and the same arguments of 'morality,' taste and juvenile delinquency were applied to both. While Elvis shook his hips, kids were reading illustrated stories that frightened, excited and entertained them.
The ultimate question that The Ten-Cent Plague leaves us with is this: who is more fit to judge a child's reading diet - parents or busybodies?
One hopes that Kefauverism will join our lexicon just as McCarthyism has. He fought hard for that honor, and fully deserves it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
