Suggested Reading on the Underground Press:
Over the past forty years, the historiography on the Underground Press has grown greatly. One interesting fact about the historiography is the large amount of contemporary works. These secondary sources provide an interesting look at what contemporary historians and sociologists thought about the Underground Press. These works include histories of individual publications and works on the Underground Press as a whole. In addition to these early works, many more recent works have examined the press as part of the emerging Alternative Media of the 1980s. The following list is a partial bibliography of the Underground Press dating from 1970 to 2013.
Articles/Chapters:
Bankes, Paul, Jeffrey Boss, Amanda Cochran, Lee S. Duemer, et al, “The Catalyst and Student Press Censorship: Implications for Student Personnel Administrators,” College Student Affairs Journal Vol. 21 No. 2 (Spring 2002), 30-37. This article discusses the Catalyst, an underground student newspaper at Texas Tech during the 1960s. In particular the authors look at the school administration’s reactions to the paper.
Blasingame, Christina. “An Examination of Latent Threads and Themes in the Catalyst (1969-1971),” American Educational History Journal Vol. 36 No. 1 (2009), 299-310. This article looks at the content of the Catalyst to find its major themes over its three year run.
Danky, James P. "The Oppositional Press," in A History of the Book in America, Vol. 5, Michael Schudson, David Paul Nord, and Joan Shelly Rubin, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Duemer, Lee S. “History of the Catalyst: Administrative Attempts to Suppress an Underground Student Newspaper,” Southern Studies Vol. 11 No. 3 (2004), 87-99. This article examines the Catalyst at Texas Tech and the administration’s attempts to censor the paper.
Ellis, Donna Lloyd, “The Underground Press in America: 1955-1970,” Journal of Popular Culture Vol. 5 No. 1 (1971), 102-124. Ellis’s article provides insight into what contemporary scholar’s thought about the underground press. She provides an excellent overview of the press and presents a thoughtful analysis.
Flacks, Richard, “Social and Cultural Meanings of Student Revolt: Some Informal Comparative Observations,” Social Problems Vol. 17 No. 3 (Winter 1970), 340-357. Flacks examines student revolt in the 1960s and attempts to find a theoretical framework to help analyze this particular revolt.
Levin, Jack and Spates, James L., “Hippie Values: An Analysis of the Underground Press,” Youth and Society Vol. 2 No. 1 (1970), 59-73. The author’s examine the language of the UPS newspapers and several popular mainstream magazines to make a comparison of the values which are present in each group.
Lewes, James, “The Underground Press in America (1964-1968): Outlining an Alternative, the Envisioning of an Underground,” Journal of Communication Inquiry Vol. 24 No. 4 (Oct. 2000), 379-400. Lewes’ work examines the statements of purpose and editorials from underground newspapers to figure out the way in which the writers of the underground press papers attempted to connect with their audience.
Spates, James L., “Counterculture and Dominant Culture Values: A Cross-National Analysis of the Underground Press and Dominant Culture Magazines,” American Sociological Review Vol. 41 No. 5 (Oct. 1976), 868-883. This is a follow up study to “Hippie Values.” The author uses the same methodology as the first study and expands the test group to include the LNS and newspapers from Britain and Canada.
Young, Stephen Flinn, “The Kudzu: The Sixties Generational Revolt Even In Mississippi,” The Southern Quarterly Vol. 34 No. 3 (1996), 122-136. This article is an analysis and history of the Kudzu, one of the more controversial underground newspapers in the heart of the conservative South.
Books:
Armstrong, David. A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, 1981. A chronological history of the Alternative Press of the 1950s through 1980. Armstrong places the underground press into the broader context of American Alternative Media.
Dennis, Everette E. and William L. Rivers. Other Voices: the New Journalism in America. San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1974. Dennis places the underground press into the emerging (at the time of publication) new journalism of the 1960s.
Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam Books, 1987. A history of the 1960s by Todd Gitlin, one of the men heavily involved in the Movement.
Glessing, Robert J. The Underground Press in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970. The first monograph on the underground press, Glessing argues that the underground press was not a passing fad and in fact was part of a new brand of journalism.
Kaplan, Geoff, ed. Power to the People: The Graphic Design of the Underground Press and the Rise of the Counterculture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Leamer, Laurence. The Paper Revolutionaries the Rise of the Underground Press. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.
Lewis, Roger. Outlaws of America: the Underground Press and Its Context. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1972. Lewis contextualizes the underground press and presents an excellent overview of its history.
McMillian, John Campbell. Smoking Typewriters: the Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. This is the most recent monograph on the underground press. McMillian argues that the underground press was one of the most important elements in the spread of the New Left across the country.
Mungo, Raymond. Famous Long Ago: My Life and Hard Times with Liberation News Service. Boston: Beacon Press, 1970. Mungo’s work is a history of the Liberation News Service from his perspective. Mungo is one of the most important figures in the underground press history.
Peck, Abe. Uncovering the Sixties: the Life and Times of the Underground Press. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. A comprehensive history of the press from the perspective of an insider. Peck conduced over 100 interviews with figures involved in the underground press.
Richardson, Peter. A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America. New York: New Press, 2009. A history of Ramparts, one of the most successful underground publications of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Rips, Geoffrey. The Campaign Against the Underground Press. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1981. Rips’ work is an exposé of the federal government’s attempts to censor the underground press.
Shore, Elliott. Alternative Papers: Selections from the Alternative Press, 1979-1980. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982.
Wachsberger, Ken. Insider Histories of the Vietnam Era Underground Press. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011. A collection of essays about the underground press. Most of the essays are by the founders and writers of underground newspapers.
Wachsberger, Ken. Voices from the Underground. Vol. 1 and 2 Tempe, Arizona: Mica Press, 1993. A collection of essays on the underground press by authors involved with the press.
Watson, Francis M. The Alternative Media: Dismantling Two Centuries of Progress. Rockford, Illinois: Rockford College Institute, 1979. A collection of essays on the Alternative media of the late 1970s organized by theme.