Cry Tough! 2 Volumes

by Irving Shulman

Afterword on the history of pulp paperbacksDigitized from rare pulp editionHe wanted a lot out of life—the easy way! He could never be a big shot if he stayed legitimate. He could never have Cadillac convertibles or soft, blonde women if he just worked for a living. But if he was willing to be a tough guy and muscle man ... to use his hardness, his strength and mental forces for the Mob… then the gates of luxury would he flung wide for him.Meet Mitchell, one of the Amboy Dukes. Not yet 21, he’s just been released from reformatory school and is just as tough and smart as he was while running with the Dukes. Deciding there’s no real money in honest work, Mitch decides to live two separate lives – one as the good son learning a trade, the other hooked up with hoods, gangsters and dames. When a local crime boss makes him an offer he can’t refuse, Mitch begins a dangerous journey that threatens his family, the girl who loves him, his reputation… and his very life.About Vintage Paperback Pulp A new revolution was underway at the start of the 1940s in America—a paperback revolution that would change the way publishers would produce and distribute books and the reading public would consume them. In 1939 a new publishing company—Pocket Books—stormed onto the scene with the publication of its first paperbound book. Unlike hardback books, these pulp paperbacks were inexpensive and readily available everywhere. The American public could not get enough of them.During the 1940s, mysteries and romances were the hot sellers. In the early 1950s, new pulp fiction subgenres emerged—science fiction, westerns, gay & lesbian fiction, juvenile delinquent and “sleaze”, for instance—that would tantalize readers with gritty, realistic and lurid stories never seen before. Publishers soon came to realize that sex sells. In a competitive frenzy for readers, they turned from straightforward "tasteful" cover images to alluring covers that frequently featured a sexy woman in some form of undress, along with a suggestive tag line that promised stories of sex and violence within the covers. To this day, the pulp cover art of these vintage paperback books is just as sought after as the books themselves were sixty years ago.We are excited to make these wonderful pulp fiction stories available in ebook format to new generations of readers, as a new revolution—the ebook revolution—is in full swing. We hope you will enjoy this nostalgic look back at a period in American history when dames were dangerous, tough-guys were deadly and dolls were downright delicious..

Paperback

First published July 1, 1986