Barney Rosset: My Life in Publishing and How I Fought Censorship

Genet…Beckett…Burroughs…Miller…Ionesco... Duras. Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. Hubert Selby Jr. and John Rechy. The legendary film I Am Curious (Yellow). The books that assaulted the fort of propriety that was the United States in the 1950s and ’60s, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Tropic of Cancer. The Evergreen Review. Victorian “erotica.” The Autobiography of Malcolm X. A bombing, a sit-in, and a near-fistfight with Norman Mailer. The common thread between these disparate elements, a number of which reshaped modern culture, was Barney Rosset.

His unswerving dedication to publishing what he wanted made him one of the most influential publishers ever. At times appalling, more often inspiring, never boring or conventional: this is Barney Rosset, uncensored.

Joining us to discuss the impact Rosset had on the publishing industry as we know it: Dale Peck, A.M. Homes, Lev Grossman, and Emily Gould.