Sticking It To The Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980

Description

From civil rights and Black Power to the New Left and gay liberation, the 1960s and 1970s saw a host of movements shake the status quo. The impact of feminism, anti-colonial struggles, wildcat industrial strikes, and antiwar agitation were all felt globally. With social strictures and political structures challenged at every level, pulp and popular fiction could hardly remain unaffected. Feminist, gay, lesbian, Black and other previously marginalised authors broke into crime, thrillers, erotica, and other paperback genres previously dominated by conservative, straight, white males. For their part, pulp hacks struck back with bizarre takes on the revolutionary times, creating fiction that echoed the Nixonian backlash and the coming conservatism of Thatcherism and Reaganism. Sticking It to the Man tracks the ways in which the changing politics and culture of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s were reflected in pulp and popular fiction in the United States, the UK, and Australia.

Andrew Nette is the coeditor of Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats and the author of two novels. Iain McIntyre has written or coedited a variety of books including On the Fly: Hobo Literature and Songs, 1879-1941; Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats; and How to Make Trouble and Influence People.

"From the profane to the sacred, this scholarly, obsessive volume reveals forgotten tribes of Amazons, Soul Brothers, Hustlers, Queers, Vigilantes, Radical Feminists and Revolutionaries--the radical exploitation of gnostic pulp." --Jon Savage, author of 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded "This is the ultimate guide to sixties and the counter culture, of which I was a part. Long hair, bellbottoms, short dresses, and a kiss-my-ass attitude to the powers that be. Real meat on real bone, the stuff of one of the most unique and revolutionary generations ever, baby. You need this." --Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard Series "This book is a story about stories--the rough-and-tumble mass fiction of the 1950s to the '80s, written to offend The Establishment and delight the rest of us. In Sticking It to the Man, McIntyre and Nette offer us a fascinating smorgasbord of (un)savory tales--the kind whose covers entice and whose texts compel. These are the novels that provided us with our guiltiest reading pleasures of the mid-to-late Twentieth Century. They are reviewed by the critics who understand them best, and who give us lively insights into the historical and social forces in play as they were being written. The authors represented range from top-of-the-line famous to almost anonymous, and they all have something chewy to say. Plus--you have the added fun of enjoying reproductions of those wicked pulp paperback covers. You had better buy two copies!" --Ann Bannon, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles "Oh, the man has been stuck! Get ready for a wild ride through the worlds of ground breaking novels of gay life, thug life, and working-class struggles on three continents, while learning about the social significance of many marginalized works of 'pulp fiction.' America still isn't ready to stand and look at itself (to paraphrase one author quoted in these pages), but this book has done its job and sent me back to the originals. Now I have a bunch more books to put on my must-read list. And you will, too." --Kenneth Wishnia, editor of Jewish Noir and author of 23 Shades of Black