Thursday, July 16, 2009

US: The Paperback Magazine # 3

The third issue (of three total) of US: the Paperback Magazine, edited by Richard Goldstein, published in 1970. I can't find much about the history behind this short-lived journal of "radical" writings and art (I put that in quotes because if it's published by a large house, how radical could it be?), but after reading the New York Times article reprinted in its pages (see last image), it seems to have been Bantam's attempt at creating a hip magazine that appealed to the readers of the Evergreen Review and the New American Review and the like. Most likely it didn't sell as much as they'd hoped so they canned the project after just three issues.

With articles by two of the first rock critics Robert Christgau and Richard Meltzer, among others, on the likes of Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kerouac, etc., it sounded like a cool little collection of writing so I gave it a shot. Some of it felt a little bit dated, but most of it was pretty well written and interesting. Worth reading, either way.



No comments:

Post a Comment