"I thought I knew his story pretty well, but I learned a great deal from this book. It is a major contribution…" —George Carlin "The book is indispensable." —Booklist "Detailed, objective, and valuable." —Kirkus Reviews 10th Anniversary Edition—With a New Preface by the Authors When it first came out in 2002, The Trials of Lenny Bruce quickly established itself as the definitive work on Lenny Bruce’s free speech battles over his provocative comedy. The Trials of Lenny Bruce takes the reader on a wild and tragicomic ride, as the renegade comedian is arrested and tried in city after city—San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, and New York—for the words he spoke onstage. The charge was obscenity. The actual offense was blasphemy. This book is an essential documentation of the free speech struggles of an icon of American comedy who, by speaking his mind and fighting for the right to speak his mind, paved the way for every standup comedian, satirist, and social critic who followed him. Not only did The Trials of Lenny Bruce set the record straight on Lenny—being named one of the best books of the year by the L.A. Times—the authors led the successful push for the late comedian’s posthumous pardon in 2003 for his 1964 conviction on obscenity charges in New York.

By the time Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death on the banks of the Hudson River in August 1944, it was clear that the hard-partying teenage companion to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs might need to reevaluate his life. A two-year stint in a reformatory straightened out the wayward youth but did little to curb the wild ways of his friends. MANIA tells the story of this remarkable group—who strained against the conformity of postwar America, who experimented with drink, drugs, sex, jazz, and literature, and who yearned to be heard, to remake art and society in their own libertine image. What is more remarkable than the manic lives they led is that they succeeded—remaking their own generation and inspiring the ones that followed. From the breakthrough success of Kerouac's On the Road to the controversy of Ginsberg's Howl and Burroughs' Naked Lunch, the counterculture was about to go mainstream for the first time, and America would never be the same again. Based on more than eight years’ writing and research, Ronald Collins and David Skover—authors of the highly acclaimed The Trials of Lenny Bruce—bring the stories of these artists, hipsters, hustlers, and maniacs to life in a dramatic, fast-paced, and often darkly comic narrative.

In this innovative book, the authors persuasively argue that the First Amendment to the Constitution has risen in the late twentieth century, like an ill guided individual with knife in hand, to murder a longstanding tradition of fine and meaningful discourse in the United States. We are bombarded with the cacophony of advertisement, the luridity of pornography, and the pointlessness of prime timepoor substitutes for intelligent consideration of ideas. }In this innovative book, the authors persuasively argue that the First Amendment to the Constitution has risen in the late twentieth century, like an ill-guided individual with knife in hand, to murder a long-standing tradition of fine and meaningful discourse in the United States. What has died is the essential kind of political discourse which promotes democracy; informs citizens; enlivens debate; and carries reason, method, and purpose. Instead, we are bombarded with the cacophony of advertisement, the luridity of pornography, and the pointlessness of prime time.With satirical spirit and wityet to a very serious purpose the narrative of this lively study calls upon many of the very tricks it criticizes. The text is augmented by amusing tales, poetry, tv zaps, eyebites, and boxes of aphorisms resonating between high and low culture, between Plato and Geraldo and Madonna and Mahler to make its points, the discussion reveals how discourse in contemporary America has lost its integrity and its soul.

Lenny Bruce¿s words had the power to provoke laughter and debate -- as well as shock and outrage. It placed him on the wrong side of the law in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago and N.Y. Lenny committed his life to telling the truth. But the truth he told infuriated those in power, and authorities worked to put him in jail. And there were those who never stopped fighting for Lenny -- like Steve Allen, Phil Spector and William Kunstler. This is the first account of Lenny Bruce¿s career and free speech struggles. Includes an audio CD, narrated by Nat Hentoff, of the routines that got Lenny in trouble, as well as interviews with his defenders and prosecutors, and his friends and followers, including George Carlin, Hugh Hefner and Margaret Cho. Photos.

The first carefully documented account of Lenny Bruce's career and free speech struggles, The Trials of Lenny Bruce paints a vivid, shocking, hilarious and tragic portrait of a man too honest for his time --

This comprehensive set of essays documents the most important criminal, civil, and political trials in the United States from colonial times to the present, examining their impact on both legal history and popular culture. Crime and punishment are of perennial interest across the human species. Trials of the Century: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture and the Law examines some of the most important (and infamous) cases in American history, placing them in both historical and legal context. Among the landmark cases considered in these two volumes are the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. A number of civil lawsuits and political trials are also included, such as the impeachment trials of Presidents Andrew Johnson and William Jefferson Clinton. Entries in the encyclopedia detail the events leading to each trial and introduce the key players, with a focus on judges, lawyers, witnesses, defendants, victims, media, and the public. In addition, the aftermath of the trial and its impact are analyzed from a scholarly, yet straightforward, perspective, emphasizing how the trial affected the law and society at large.

This Top Five Classics edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde includes: • More than 20 illustrations by Charles Raymond Macauley • Introduction • Author bio and bibliography Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, first published in 1886, has been and remains one of the most well-known works of popular fiction in the English language, having spawned hundreds of dramatic adaptations and inspired countless other works—beginning with the first stage production less than a year after the original book was published. It is also one of the most widely translated works in English literature. But if you’ve never read Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you might be surprised at just how riveting the tale remains—as well as how different it is from what you’ve come to expect.

This Top Five Classics edition of The Brothers Grimm Illustrated features 54 of the most beloved and well-known household tales from the Brothers Grimm, with more than 65 full-color illustrations by Arthur Rackham and Gustaf Tenggren, retold in modern English that retains the homespun, plain language of the original tales. Including favorites like "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding-Hood," "Rapunzel," "Rumpelstiltskin," "The Frog King," "Cinderella," and "Snow White," The Brothers Grimm Illustrated presents the most memorable and enduring of the Grimm's fairy tales and folktales alongside beautiful artwork from Arthur Rackham, one of the Grimms' most renowned illustrators; and Gustaf Tenggren, one of the most influential Disney animators from the mid-20th century, who orchestrated the look of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, among other films.

When the body of Thaddeus Grainger’s rival turns up stabbed to death in an alley just hours after their inconclusive duel, only one suspect comes to mind. Charged with murder, Grainger’s fate is sealed before his trial even begins. A young gentleman of means but of meaningless pursuits, Grainger is cast into the notorious Bellstrom Gaol, where he must quickly learn to survive in the filthy, ramshackle prison. The “Bells”—where debtors, gaolers, whores, thieves, and murderers all mix freely and where every privilege comes at a price—will be the young man’s home for the rest of his life unless he can prove his innocence. But his friends, the journalist William Quillby and Cassie Redruth, the poor young girl who owes Grainger a debt of gratitude, refuse to abandon him. Before they can win his freedom, however, they must decode the meaning behind the crude wax seal that inspires terror in those who know its portent and contend with forces both inside and outside the prison determined to keep Grainger behind bars. Set against the urban backdrop of late 18th-century England, The Raven’s Seal unravels a tale of corruption, betrayal, murder, and—ultimately—redemption and love. Praise for The Raven’s Seal: “Baltakmens captures the flavor and scope of classic British fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews “This atmospheric, character-driven, and plot-twisty bildungsroman is a worthy paean to Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.” —Booklist “Baltakmens gives readers of The Raven’s Seal all of the history and the mystery his subtitle promises. The mood, color, details, and dialogue come across as very authentic . . . [his] characters would not be out of place in a work of DeFoe or Thackeray. In fact, there is much of the latter’s Barry Lyndon here, with its plots and duels and confidence games, as well as deft touches of the former’s Moll Flanders, with its bawdy wenches, prison intrigues, and period squalor.” —ForeWord “The author’s exquisite prose rushes along full of surprises, shadows, betrayal, and squalid situations where the high-born and criminals intermix. A superb mystery with vibrant characters.” —Historical Novels Review

This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of Jane Austen’s Persuasion features: • 30 full-color illustrations by Charles E. Brock • an informative Introduction • a detailed Biography and Bibliography Originally published in December 1817, just five months after Jane Austen died at the age of 41, Persuasion was her last completed novel. Released with Northanger Abbey as a four-volume set, its publication marked the first time Austen was acknowledged as the author of these and her previous four novels. Persuasion begins eight years after Anne Elliot’s love affair was thwarted by her well-meaning mentor, Lady Russell. Now Anne must endure being thrust into company with her former fiancé, as he courts another, younger woman. Persuasion is not only one of Austen’s most popular novels, it is her most mature.