From: jeanthea@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Mark Jeantheau)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics,rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: mail summary: "Seduction of the Innocent"
Date: 21 Nov 92 20:10:50 GMT
Reply-To: jeanthea@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Mark Jeantheau)
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD

In article <27498@oasys.dt.navy.mil> I wrote:

>A friend of mine is interested in a book called "Seduction of the Innocent"
>by Wethham, which apparently describes the 1950's right-wing attack 
>on comic books.  Can anyone provide info on availability?


Here is the mail I received, for anyone who's interested....

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From wmorgan@stsci.edu Sun Nov 15 12:26:07 1992
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From: Windsor A. Morgan <wmorgan@stsci.edu>
Message-Id: <9211151726.AA18102@NEMESIS.STSCI.EDU>
To: jeanthea
Subject: Re: Seduction of the Innocent
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Cc: 

The book has been out of print for many years (though a good
university or city library should have a copy).  However, by early
next year, Kitchen Sink Press is scheduled to publish an annotated
copy of the book.  You might want to contact Kitchen Sink Press (in
Wisconsin, I believe) for more information.

By the way, the author is Frederic Wertham.
-- 
'Verily, there be no leader as wise as the Vision!'
			 Windsor Morgan (wmorgan@stsci.edu OR NHT@PSUVM.BITNET)
			 Space Telescope Science Institute
			 Baltimore, MD   21218

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From gt7691c@prism.gatech.edu Tue Nov 17 12:45:33 1992
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From: gt7691c@prism.gatech.edu
Message-Id: <9211171746.AA00584@prism>
To: jeanthea
Subject: Re: Seduction of the Innocent
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Organization: Miskatonic University
Cc: 

The availability is very scarce.  I was lucky enough to find a copy in my
college library.  If you do manage to find a copy for sale, expect to pay
$200+ for it.  There was also a bibliography available that was printed
either in a small number of them or as a supplement.  I saw a cost on that
at about $20.  These prices were 5 or 6 years ago, so they may have changed
significantly since then.  I would say the best bet is to look in a good
library.  It seems that the onl;y libraries that can hold onto a copy are
the ones that charge replacement price if a book is lost.

For your information, there is another similar book called _Parade_of_Pleasure_
which is also on the same topic.  I have not read this one.

SOTI is not really a right wing attack on comics.  The entire point of the
book was to expose that the comics that the kids were reading were not 
necessarily what their parents thought they were.  There is also somewhat
of an attack against the comics as preventing the kids from learning how
to read.  Overall, all that was requested through the book was to have
the companies put a "For Mature Readers Only" label on the cover of the
books which were cited as problems.

Many people overreacted to this and decided to form the Amercian Comics
Code (or whatever it is called).  This is probably the worst case of
self censorship in this century (maybe in the history of the country).
Once the comics code came out, it caused several stores to not carry
comics which did not follow the guidelines of the code.  This led several
companies, most notably EC, to bankrupt.  An interesting side note:  EC
was originally Educational Comics.  They published bible stories and other
educational materials.  They at some point started to publish the horror
and SF books and left the educational books behind.  They then changed
their name to Entertaining Comics (I believe this is correct).

The time of the book was circa 1953.

If you wish anymore information about these, I may have what you want, so
feel free to mail me.
-- 
Jay Lofstead                                Dare to be weird!
ARPA: gt7691c@prism.gatech.edu      Make the world an interesting place!
uucp: ...!gatech!prism!gt7691c

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From SMB147@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Tue Nov 17 23:38:12 1992
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From: <SMB147@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
To: jeanthea
Subject: Re: Seduction of the Innocent

Eclipse Comics promised to reprint the book, with annotations, but it's hasn't

happend yet.  Here at Penn State, the library has a copy in the rare
book room. That's all I can tell you.
R I K

--

From demaio@mathcs.emory.edu Wed Nov 18 12:55:24 1992
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From: demaio@mathcs.emory.edu (Joseph DeMaio)
Message-Id: <9211181755.AA22515@emory.mathcs.emory.edu>
To: jeanthea
Subject: Seduction of the Innocent

Mark-
      Seduction of the Innocent was a right wing cold war attack on
comics in the early 50's by Frederick Werthem. It was published in 
hardback in the 50's and later (60's ??) in paperback. It is very 
difficult to find for sale. I've seen one original hardbound copy for 
sale (about $250). I've never seen the paperback for sale. One's best 
bet to read a copy is to go to the library. As a student I found a copy
at the Wake Forest Library. A University library worths its salt should
have a copy. In reality Its not the most interesting read but it does
provide insight to its time. Hope this helps.

				       Joe DeMaio

--

From rseguine@buckeye.mitre.org Thu Nov 19 11:26:55 1992
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From: rseguine@buckeye.mitre.org (Roy SeGuine)
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To: jeanthea (Mark Jeantheau)
Subject: Re: Seduction of the Innocent


There was an article in Comics Buyer's Guide last year stating that a
new edition of the book, with comments by the author's (F. Wertham)
biographer, was being prepared.  Wertham's papers are at Harvard
University, I believe.  I read a copy at Harvard when I was an
undergrad; I imagine any big city library or university library would
have a copy.
-- 

'Verily, there be no leader as wise as the Vision!'
			 Windsor Morgan (wmorgan@stsci.edu OR  
NHT@PSUVM.BITNET)
			 Space Telescope Science Institute
			 Baltimore, MD   21218


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jeanthea@oasys.dt.navy.mil // Mark Jeantheau // (202) 227-3562 // U.S. Navy
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Div. // Code 1401 // Bethesda MD 20084
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Opinions expressed herein blah blah blah... [Standard disclaimer.]
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.misc,rec.arts.books