A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls - Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature

“A fascinating account of a remarkable woman dangerously ahead of her time.” —Kevin Kwan, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians

The life and times of literary pioneer and queer icon Margaret C. Anderson, who risked everything to be the first to publish James Joyce’s Ulysses in America. Perfect for fans of The Editor, Flapper, and Nasty Women.

Already under fire for publishing the literary avant-garde into a world not ready for it, Margaret C. Anderson’s cutting-edge magazine The Little Review was a bastion of progressive politics and boundary-pushing writing from then-unknowns like T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, and Djuna Barnes. And as its publisher, Anderson was a target. From Chicago to New York and Paris, this fearless agitator helmed a woman-led publication that pushed American culture forward and challenged the sensibilities of early 20th century Americans dismayed by its salacious writing and advocacy for supposed extremism like women’s suffrage, access to birth control, and LBGTQ rights.

But then it went too far. In 1921, Anderson found herself on trial and labeled “a danger to the minds of young girls” by a government seeking to shut her down for having serialized James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses in her magazine.

Author, journalist, and literary critic Adam Morgan brings Anderson and her journal to life anew in the “riveting and indispensable” (The Boston Globe) A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls, capturing a moment of cultural acceleration and backlash all too familiar today while shining light on an unsung heroine of American arts and letters.