Franklin Square Library

First settled in the 1600s, the present-day village of Franklin Square developed as a German-speaking farming community in the late 1800s. The fertile farmland of Franklin Square supplied New York City with all types of fresh produce into the mid-20th century, when waves of suburban growth transformed fields into residential neighborhoods. Franklin Square's rich history exemplifies the larger trends in America's history. George Washington visited in 1790, and the poet Walt Whitman taught in the local school in 1840. The Franklin Square National Bank invented a new type of walk-up window as well as the bank credit card, eventually becoming the 18th-largest bank in the United States. A native son orbited the earth on the space shuttle.

Despite efforts of contemporary reformers to curb the availability of dime novels, series books, and paperbacks, Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes reveals how many readers used them as means of resistance and how fictional characters became models for self-empowerment. These literary genres, whose value has long been underestimated, provide fascinating insight into the formation of American popular culture and identity. Through these mass-produced, widely read books, Deadwood Dick, Old Sleuth, and Jessie James became popular heroes that fed the public’s imagination for the last western frontier, detective tales, and the myth of the outlaw. Women, particularly those who were poor and endured hard lives, used the literature as means of escape from the social, economic, and cultural suppression they experienced in the nineteenth century. In addition to the insight this book provides into texts such as “The Bride of the Tomb,” the Nick Carter Series, and Edward Stratemeyer’s rendition of the Lizzie Borden case, readers will find interesting information about: the roles of illustrations and covers in consumer culture Bowling Green’s endeavor to digitize paperback and pulp magazine covers bibliographical problems in collecting and controlling series books the effects of mass market fiction on young girls Louisa May Alcott’s pseudonym and authorship of three dime novels special collections competition among publishers A collection of work presented at a symposium held by the Library of Congress, Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes makes an outstanding contribution to redefining the role of popular fiction in American life.

Planned nine-volume series devoted to the exploration of popular print culture in English from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the present.