"Few realized in 1938 that a revolution was about to take place. A little book appeared in drugstores and on newsstands that would fit into the typical pocket. There was no real binding, no dust jacket; just a colorful, laminated cover....by summer of 1939 everybody was buying and reading them. Regarded by many as disposable distractions, a few people put them aside and started collections that we realize are a valuable and collectible archive of American culture. From the glittering images of square-jawed cowboys to the gritty slum-dwellers of social realism, The Great American Paperback is a bountiful museum of over 600 brilliant covers, each of them a miniature gem evocative of the fashions and attitudes of its era."--book jacket.