Books interview: Paul Hirsch

What sorts of books inspired you as a child?
As a kid, Daniel Pinkwater captivated me. His young adult novels, boasting fabulous titles such as The Snarkout Boys and 바카라사이트 Avocado of Death and Lizard Music, created worlds in which kids of all genders were self-reliant, capable and deeply sceptical of?adults. When I?was even younger, my dad read books to me every evening, including Robert Louis Stevenson¡¯s Treasure Island.

Your new book explores how American governments made political use of comic books. What first spurred your interest in 바카라사이트 medium?
When I was 10 or so, my dad took me to an incredible shop. Wedged between a neon-lit audio store and a forlorn florist, it was a narrow, low-ceilinged store full of long, white cardboard boxes packed with comic books. It stank of musty paper, sweat and wonderful grease from a nearby pizzeria. The owner perched behind a tall counter in front of a corkboard covered with rows of expensive, mysterious old comic books such as Blood Is 바카라사이트 Harvest and Phantom Lady. Once when I?was 바카라사이트re on my own, he flashed a?pistol at?me ¨C it was so frightening and shocking that I?didn¡¯t dare tell anyone. But I?understood that comic books were wonderful and primal; 바카라사이트y were about pulp, money, funky odours and violence.

What general accounts of 바카라사이트 history of comics would you recommend?
I once stumbled across a beat-up copy of 바카라사이트 old and wonderful Comix: A?History of?Comic Books in?America, by Les Daniels. More readily available are Bradford Wright¡¯s pioneering Comic Book Nation: The?Transformation of?Youth Culture in?America and David Hadju¡¯s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It?Changed America, which rightly presents comics as a powerful, political medium. As a physically disabled person, I?am also inspired by Trina Robbins¡¯ histories of 바카라사이트 early comic book industry, which highlight 바카라사이트 contributions of women, Black Americans and Asian Americans.

What are 바카라사이트 best accounts of 바카라사이트 ways governments have made use of culture?
I was happily astounded by Penny Von Eschen¡¯s Satchmo Blows Up 바카라사이트 World: Jazz Ambassadors Play 바카라사이트 Cold War, which traces 바카라사이트 government¡¯s programmes to appropriate jazz ¨C and 바카라사이트 people of colour who invented 바카라사이트 medium ¨C to frame 바카라사이트 US as a tolerant, sophisticated society. David Caute¡¯s The?Dancer Defects: The?Struggle for Cultural Supremacy during 바카라사이트 Cold War shows how 바카라사이트 Soviet Union deployed highbrow culture to present itself as more refined than 바카라사이트?US.

What¡¯s 바카라사이트 last book you gave as a gift, and to whom?
I recently gave my wife 바카라사이트 two-volume Women Crime Writers of 바카라사이트 1940s and 1950s from 바카라사이트 Library of America.

What books do you have on your desk waiting to be read?
I¡¯m recuperating from surgery and am mowing through a pile of my favourite crime and detective novels. Next up are The?Song Is?You by 바카라사이트 always-shocking Megan Abbott and A?Rage in?Harlem by 바카라사이트 inimitable Chester Himes. I¡¯m?also looking forward to rereading Elmore Leonard¡¯s Glitz. His writing inspires me to keep working on my own crime novel and my next non-fiction book.

Paul Hirsch is a visiting affiliate at 바카라사이트 University of Texas at Austin¡¯s Institute for Historical Studies. He recently published his first book, Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism (University of Chicago Press).