The Trials of Lenny Bruce

"The book is indispensable." —Booklist

"Detailed, objective, and valuable." —Kirkus Reviews

“I thought I knew his story pretty well, but I learned a great deal from this book. It is a major contribution…" —George Carlin

10th Anniversary Edition—Includes a New Preface by the Authors

When it first came out in 2002, The Trials of Lenny Bruce quickly established itself as the definitive work on Lenny Bruce’s free speech battles over his provocative comedy.

The Trials of Lenny Bruce takes the reader on a wild and tragicomic ride, as the renegade comedian is tried for obscenity in city after city—San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, and New York. This book is an essential documentation of the free speech struggles of an icon of American comedy who, by speaking his mind and fighting for the right to speak his mind, paved the way for every standup comedian, satirist, and social critic who followed him.

Not only did The Trials of Lenny Bruce set the record straight on Lenny—being named one of the best books of the year by the L.A. Times—the authors led the push for the late comedian’s posthumous pardon in 2003 for his 1964 conviction on obscenity charges in New York.