Server, Lee.Over my dead body: The sensational age of the American paperback: 1945-1955. San Francisco, 1994. 108pp.

A pretty cool book, basically a quick overview of the first great age of the paperback novel. A bit of an uneasy balance between a serious study and history and being an art book, to the extent that it doesn't function that well as either. If you take it as a kind of taster book, leading to a search for a more serious art book and history of paperbacks, then it is quite successful. There's certainly enough cover art from the paperback era to whet my appetite for more. And the history part is also certainly going to lead me to more resources as well. The book covers a multitude of genres from hard boiled mystery to romance, so each section doesn't get too much coverage. On the other hand, it's certainl pointed out a bunch of authors for me to keep an eye out for, such as Henry Kane, Harry Whittington, Irving Shulman and Hal Elson.