The Trials of Lenny Bruce (Enhanced)

Front Cover
Top Five Books LLC, 2012 - 576 pages

“The book is indispensable.” —Booklist

“Detailed, objective, and valuable.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Generating a gamut of emotions, the entire package is an important documentation of a revolution in American culture.” —Publishers Weekly

10th Anniversary Edition—Includes a New Preface by the Authors

When it first came out in 2002, The Trials of Lenny Bruce quickly established itself as the definitive work on Lenny Bruce’s free speech battles over his provocative comedy.

Originally packaged with an audio CD, this 10th Anniversary Enhanced eBook edition includes audio from Lenny Bruce’s most controversial performances, as well as exclusive author interviews with George Carlin, Hugh Hefner, Paul Krassner, Margaret Cho, and the lawyers who defended and prosecuted him. Also included are archival audio clips secretly recorded during Lenny’s New York obscenity trial.

The Trials of Lenny Bruce is an important document of the free speech struggles of an icon of American comedy who, by speaking his mind and fighting the good fight, paved the way for every standup comedian, satirist, and social critic who followed him.

Not only did The Trials of Lenny Bruce set the record straight on Lenny, being named one of the best books of the year by the L.A. Times, the authors led the successful push for the late comedian’s posthumous pardon in 2003 for his 1964 conviction on obscenity charges in New York.

 

Contents

Audio Track List
Comedy as Commentary
Free Speechin NorthBeach Holy Howl What Kindava ShowIs
Judge and Jury 4 L A Story Eye Candy
The Ash Wednesday Trial The Gate ofHorn He Mocks thePope Legal ProblemsGalore The Right toMake a Foolof Oneself
What
Poetic License 7 The Courtroom
New York
Feminists Here Split overan
Cinematic Justice 11 Ex Officio Judgments Lennys Legacy Outlaw?
OnlyWords Free SpeechZones
Appendix
Free Speech Chronology
Bibliography
Photo Credits
More from

The Resurrection ofLenny

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2012)

Ron Collins and David Skover have been writing together for almost three decades. In addition to The Trials of Lenny Bruce, they have also coauthored three other books together—The Death of Discourse (1996), On Dissent (2013), and MANIA (2013).

Ron, who grew up in Southern California and teaches at the University of Washington Law School, lives in Bethesda, Maryland. David, who grew up in Wisconsin and teaches at Seattle University Law School, lives in Seattle. Both have written numerous scholarly articles (often together) in journals such as the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, and in the Supreme Court Review.

 

Bibliographic information