Preface -- Love of the lurid -- Publishing the sensational -- Enter the dime novel -- Dime novel heroes -- Glorifying the outlaws -- The rise of the detective -- Transition to the pulps -- Fantastic heroes and high adventure -- Detectives become hard boiled -- And even harder boiled -- Pulp visions of the cowboy -- The Western pulp matures -- Pulps for everyone -- Yellow perils and weird menaces -- The pulps fade away -- Postscript.
Summary:
"From the dime novels of the Civil War era to the pulp magazines of the early 20th century to modern paperbacks, lurid fiction has provided escapism. Covering the history of pulp literature from 1850 through 1960, the author describes how sensational tales filled a public need and flowered during the evolving social conditions of the Industrial Revolution"-- Provided by publisher.
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