Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America

304 Pages·2011·9.16 MB·English

by  John McMillian

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Smoking Typewriters

SMOKING TYPEWRITERS

The Sixties Underground Press
and the Rise of
Alternative Media in America
John McMillian
OXFORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS
OTIORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Library of Congress Caraloging*in-Publicarion Data
McMillIan, John CampbelL
Smoking cypewritcrs : rhe SixTies underground press
and rhe rise of alrernative media in America I John McMillian.
p em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-531992-7
L Underground press publicatiorlS-Uojred Srares-HistotY-lorh cenrury.
2. Radicalism-Un iced Scares-HisrorY-2och a'mury"

.?" Press and politics-Uniced St!lces-HisrorY-2orh cenrury. L Tide'"

P~4888.U5M35 201 r

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 r
Prinred In the UnHed Scares of America
on acid-free paper
Fo r Harry Reed

Contents
Acknowledgments IX

A Note on Sources xm

Introduction I

I
"Our Founder, the Mimeograph Machine":

Print Culture in Students for a Democratic
Society 13

2
A Hundred Blooming Papers: Culture and

Community in the 1960s Underground Press 31

3
"Electrical Bananas": The Underground Press
and the Great Banana Hoax of 1967 66

4
"All the Protest Fit to Print": The Rise of

Liberation News Service 82

5
"Either We Have Freedom of the Press ...
or We Don't Have Freedom of the Press":
Thomas King Forcade and the War against
Underground Newspapers 5

I I
6
Questioning Who Decides: Participatory

Democracy in the Underground Press 140

7
"From Underground to Everywhere":
Alternative Media Trends since the Sixties 172
Afterword 186
Notes 191

Bibliography 249

Index 261

Vl11 I CONTENTS
Acknowledgments

IT'S A THRILL to be able to finally acknowledge the many people who have
helped with this book. Let me first thank Alan Brinkley, my graduate advisor
at Columbia University, who has done a wonderful job of helping me to shape
this project from its beginning. Eric Foner has likewise provided wise and
trusted counsel during my graduate career at Columbia and beyond. I am so
fortunate to have worked work under the supervision of these two distin­
guished historians. I would also like to thank Todd Gitlin, Casey Blake, and
James Miller for generously serving on my dissertation committee. Manning
Marable likewise provided valuable feedback, as well as indispensable finan­
cial assistance through Columbia's Institute for Research in African-American
Studies.
Going back further, I had some truly outstanding professors at Michi­
gan State University, without whom I would not have acquired the skills or
the confidence necessary to pursue a scholarly career. They include James
Madison College professors Ken Waltzer, Katherine O'Sullivan See, and
history department professors David Bailey, Christine Daniels, and Mark
Kornbluh. The same must be said about John VanLooy, my high school
English teacher. I was very sad to learn, recently, that Professor Doug Hoek­
stra, another great influence on me, passed away in 2006. I'm pleased that
the James Madison College has established an endowment in his name.
More than any of my past teachers, though, Harry Reed has been an inspi­
ration, friend and mentor. Had we not crossed paths during my sophomore
year at MSU, my life might have taken a different and far less rewarding
path. A long time ago, I declared that I would dedicate my first scholarly
monograph to Dr. Reed, and I am happy to at last fulfill that promise.