Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (''né'' Emanuel Julius) (July 30, 1889 – July 31, 1951) was a

Jewish-American American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jews, Jewish, whether by Jewish culture, culture, ethnicity, or Judaism, religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of Am ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

writer,

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

thinker,

social reform Reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements which reject t ...

er and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

. He is best remembered as the head of Haldeman-Julius Publications, the creator of a series of pamphlets known as "

Little Blue Book Little Blue Books are a series of small staple-bound books published from 1919 through 1978 by the Haldeman-Julius Publishing Company of Girard, Kansas. They were extremely popular, and achieved a total of 300-500 million booklets sold over the s ...

s," total sales of which ran into the hundreds of millions of copies.

Biography

Early years

Emanuel Julius was born July 30, 1889, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the son of David Julius (''né'' Zolajefsky), a bookbinder. His parents were

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish emigrants who fled

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

(then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

) and

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to America to escape

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...

Susan Jacoby Susan Jacoby (; born June 4, 1945) is an American author. Her 2008 book about American anti-intellectualism, ''The Age of American Unreason'', was a ''New York Times'' best seller. She is an atheist and a secularist. Jacoby graduated from Michi ...

, ''Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.'' New York:

Henry Holt and Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt (publisher), Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in ...

, 2004; pg. 264. (See photograph of Davi
here
) His paternal and maternal grandfathers had both been rabbis but his own parents were not religious. " ey were indifferent, for which I thank them." As a boy, Emanuel read voraciously. Literature and pamphlets produced by the socialists were inexpensive; Julius read them and was convinced by their arguments. As he put it in 1913, "Only four years ago, I was a factory hand — slaving away in a textile mill in Philadelphia. I came upon the philosophy of Socialism and it put a new spirit into me. It lifted me out of the depths and pointed the way to something higher. I commenced to crave for expression. I felt that I have something to say. So, I scribbled things down. And, to my surprise, Socialist editors gave me a little encouragement." He joined the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was the party's 1932 Senatorial candidate for the state of Kansas.

Career

After working for various newspapers, Julius rose to particular prominence as an editor (1915-1922)Haldeman-Julius Historical Notes: Chronology of Important Events
/ref> of the ''Appeal to Reason'', a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

with a large but declining national circulation. He and his first wife, Marcet Haldeman (whose last name he adopted in hyphenate), purchased the ''Appeal'''s printing operation in

Girard, Kansas Girard is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Kansas, Crawford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,496. History Girard was founded in the spring o ...

and began printing pocket books on cheap pulp paper (similar to that used in

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. ...

), stapled in paper cover. These were first were called ''The Appeal's Pocket Series'' and sold in 1919 for 25 cents. The covers were either red or yellow. Over the next several years Haldeman-Julius changed the name successively to ''The People's Pocket Series'', ''Appeal Pocket Series'', ''Ten Cent Pocket Series'', ''Five Cent Pocket Series'', ''Pocket Series'' and finally in 1923, '' Little Blue Books''. The five cent price of the books remained in place for many years. Many titles of classic literature were given lurid titles in order to increase sales. Eventually, millions of copies per year were sold in the late 1920s. In 1922 they renamed the ''Appeal'' as ''The Haldeman-Julius Weekly'' (known from 1929 to 1951 as ''The American Freeman''), which became the house organ. In 1924 they launched ''The Haldeman-Julius Monthly'' (later renamed ''The Debunker''), which had a greater emphasis on

Freethought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

, and in 1932 added ''The Militant Atheist'', among other journals. The novelist

Louis L’Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Weste ...

(1908-1988) described the Haldeman-Julius publications in his autobiography and their potential influence:

Riding a freight train out of El Paso, I had my first contact with the Little Blue Books. Another hobo was reading one, and when he finished he gave it to me. The Little Blue Books were a godsend to wandering men and no doubt to many others. Published in Girard, Kansas, by Haldeman-Julius, they were slightly larger than a playing card and had sky-blue paper covers with heavy black print titles. I believe there were something more than three thousand titles in all and they were sold on newsstands for 5 or 10 cents each. Often in the years following, I carried ten or fifteen of them in my pockets, reading when I could. Among the books available were the plays of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, collections of short stories by
De Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the Naturalism (literature), naturalist School of thought, sc ...
, Poe,
Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...
,
Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...
, Gorky,
Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
, Gautier,
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
, and Balzac. There were collections of essays by
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
, Emerson, and
Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...
, among others. There were books on the history of music and architecture, painting, the principles of electricity; and, generally speaking, the books offered a wide range of literature and ideas. ��In subsequent years I read several hundred of the Little Blue Books, including books by
Tom Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...
,
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
, and
Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...
.

Personal life, death and legacy

The couple had two children: Alice Haldeman-Julius Deloach (1917–1991) and Henry Haldeman-Julius (1919–1990; he later changed his name to Henry Julius Haldeman). They adopted Josephine Haldeman-Julius Roselle (b. 1910). Marcet and Emanuel legally separated in 1933. Marcet died in 1941, and a year later Haldeman-Julius married Susan Haney, an employee. In June 1951 Haldeman-Julius was found guilty of income tax evasion by a Federal grand jury and sentenced to six months in Federal prison and fined $12,500. The next month he

drowned Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

in his

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

. His son Henry took over his father's publishing efforts, and the books continued to be sold until the printing house burned down on July 4, 1978. Haldeman-Julius's papers are held at

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regen ...

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 United S ...

, a few miles from Girard in the southeastern corner of the state, as well as at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

and

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

Selected works

Mark Twain: Radical
" '' International Socialist Review'', vol. 11.2 (Aug., 1910), pp. 83–88. Emanuel's first bylined article. *
Dust
' (with Marcet Haldeman-Julius). New York: Brentano's, 1921. * ''Studies in Rationalism.'' Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1925. * ''The Militant Agnostic''. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 1995

926 Year 926 ( CMXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The Italian nobles turn against King Rudolph II of Burgundy and request that Hugh of Provence, the effective rul ...

* ''My First Twenty-Five Years.'' Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1949. * ''My Second Twenty-Five Years.'' Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1949. * ''The World of Haldeman-Julius'' (compiled Albert Mordell). New York: Twayne, 1960. *
Short Works
' (with Marcet Haldeman-Julius). Topeka: Center for Kansas Studies, Washburn University, 1992.

Footnotes

External links

* *
Finding aid to the E. Julius-Haldeman pocket books at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.Little Blue Books Bibliography, by Jake GibbsHaldeman-Julius "Little Blue Book" Collection
at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Haldeman-Julius, Emanuel 1889 births 1951 deaths 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century atheists Accidental deaths in Kansas American anti-capitalists Jewish American atheism activists American male essayists American male non-fiction writers American pamphleteers American social reformers American socialists American critics of Christianity Deaths by drowning in the United States Freethought writers Jewish socialists Kansas socialists People from Girard, Kansas Rationalists Writers about activism and social change Writers from Kansas Writers from Philadelphia