The Candy Men

A Rabelaisian satire loosely based on Voltaire's Candide, Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg's Candy became one of the most famous novels of the tumultuous 1960's. Detailing its humble beginnings in Paris through its agonizing three-year writing gestation (often on paper napkins, lost or destroyed) and the authors' wily business dealings first with French-based publisher Maurice Girodias, then Putnam is America, this book follows with unblinking scrutiny Candy's underground (then mainstream) success, its blatant piracy, its legal shenanigans, and its all-star movie flop. Replete with deceptions and self-deceptions, midnight dope runs, and general pandemonium, The Candy Men is as much fun to read as the original novel itself. And far more instructive.