The Trials of Hank Janson Steve Holland Author

A perfect storm of paper shortages and fly-by-night publishers in the years after World War II led to a boom in cheaply produced American-style hard-boiled crime fiction. Hank Janson, dubbed the 'Best of Tough Gangster Authors' - in truth a south Lon... Read more

A perfect storm of paper shortages and fly-by-night publishers in the years after World War II led to a boom in cheaply produced American-style hard-boiled crime fiction. Hank Janson, dubbed the 'Best of Tough Gangster Authors' - in truth a south London former shipping clerk turned publisher - sold five million copies of his novels to a public who craved excitement and escapism in Hank's violent, sexually charged world.The courts took a more damning view, destroying hundreds of thousands of paperbacks and magazines that were judged to be obscene. Janson's novels, with their voluptuous pin-up covers, were a regular target, but requests for guidance from authorities went unanswered. Then, Janson's publisher and distributor were arrested, tried and jailed.This is the story of Hank Janson, of his creator Stephen D. Frances, and how, out of the ashes of destruction orders levelled at cheap gangster novels, the Obscene Publications Act was reformed. Less