Barney, Grove Press and America's Maverick Publisher and the Battle Against Censorship by Michael Rosenthal (2016)

Barney Rosset was born in Chicago in 1922, into a very affluent family.  He died in New York City in  2012.  He purchased Grove press in 1951.  He transformed it from a staid uninteresting publishing house to an exciting company that through hard fought court cases broke the postal censorship laws in the USA.  He ran Grove Press to publish what he liked which ranged from the first American publications of Nobel Prize Winners like Kenzaboro Oe and Samuel Beckett to Victorian Porn..

The bio goes into details about Barney's marriages and his interest in prostitutes.  We also learn a lot about the business side of Grove Press

I have been reading Grove Press books anfor decades.  This book really deserves a longer post than this.  It was for sure worth reading. I endorse it strongly to anyone interested in the New York City Publishing scene.

Mel u