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A review by andreablythe
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America by David Hajdu
4.0
This book covers the history, development, and controversies that surrounded the comic book industry from its inception in Sunday newspapers at the beginning of the century to its "golden age" in the late forties/early fifties through to it's near collapse at the end of the fifties.
This was a fascinating book, one that I thought did a fabulous job of capturing the rapture of the artists, writers, and publishers and contrasting that with the fervor of those wishing to put at end to the threat of the ten-cent menace as they saw it. I was shocked to learn just how intense was the hatred of comic books. The hearing for banning comic books were right up there in interest with McCarthy's communist hunts, not to mention the numerous book burnings that occurred.
Hajdu quoted directly from those involved on both sides of the controversies. That combined with his excellent descriptions of the people, events, and comics involved really made the time and the passions come to life for me.
This was a fascinating book, one that I thought did a fabulous job of capturing the rapture of the artists, writers, and publishers and contrasting that with the fervor of those wishing to put at end to the threat of the ten-cent menace as they saw it. I was shocked to learn just how intense was the hatred of comic books. The hearing for banning comic books were right up there in interest with McCarthy's communist hunts, not to mention the numerous book burnings that occurred.
Hajdu quoted directly from those involved on both sides of the controversies. That combined with his excellent descriptions of the people, events, and comics involved really made the time and the passions come to life for me.