Stockton, California: [no publisher], 1970.
Price: $650.00
Hardcover. A run of the first 15 issues of the biweekly alternative newspaper *Stockton Silver Hammer*. Each is a tabloid sized issue. Overall near fine with some toning to the cheap newsprint, waviness to later issues and all folded once as issued. The newspaper covered everything you would expect from an alternative newspaper in the early 1970s: the Vietnam War, unfair police enforcement, drug laws, entrenched politicians and (what they saw as) rigged elections. They also offered readers advice on drugs, abortion counseling, various protest efforts, woman's liberation, the struggle for Native American rights, the Kent State shootings, and the trial of the Soledad Brothers, to name a few. Most issues also included a plethora of spot illustration and full page cartoons by Gary Ratto and Carlos Lopez in the style of underground comixs of the day. The newspaper charged 15-cents per issue (unlike many of the other free underground newspapers across the country), possibly realizing it could not survive on advertising revenue in the mostly conservative Stockton area. If that was the case, they were unfortunately proved correct finally succumbing to printing costs after only 20 issues. *OCLC* locates five records, a mix of single issues and partial runs.
Item #393054
