Mass culture, popular fictions and the paperback revolution

This chapter considers both the form and content of paperback fiction through a reading that places them in dialogue with other forms of popular culture, such as comics. Through a focus on controversies about content, the chapter considers differences attached to texts through their perceived audiences, both nationally and internationally, in the context of the US seeking to assert itself as a global political and cultural leader. The chapter analyses key texts of the 1950s such as Peyton Place, Naked Lunch, Howl, EC Comics, and the novels of Mickey Spillane.