In addition to my book, Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism, published by the University of Chicago Press, I contribute to a variety of scholarly and popular publications. Here are samples of my peer-reviewed and popular work.
Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism, University of Chicago Press, 2021
Praise for Pulp Empire:
“Every so often, a single book changes our understanding of an entire topic. Hirsch’s brilliant, artfully written Pulp Empire does that for mid-twentieth century American studies. The billions of comic books that rolled off American presses and circumnavigated the globe in the 1940s and ’50s reveal significant unexplored aspects of American society, politics, and foreign policy. While Hirsch’s spectacular research introduces American historians to a new field of study, his elegant writing invites a broad audience to read this unique and beautifully produced book.”
— Martin Sherwin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
“I’ll be frank: I love this book. Hirsch’s writing is crisp and exciting and it’s a joy to see the history of comic books and the Cold War United States told from such a fresh angle. This fun, sharp book is one I’ll be thinking about for a while.”
— Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
“It has been a long time since I read a history of comic books that genuinely brought significant new issues and sources to the table. Pulp Empire is such a book—smart, lively, and well-written. Hirsch positions the early decades of the American comic book in a global context and illuminates the anxieties this powerful new form of popular culture inspired not only in parents and cultural critics but also in government officials and world leaders.”
— Jared Gardner, author of Projections: Comics and the History of 21st-Century Storytelling
“This Is Our Enemy: The Writers’ War Board and Representations of Race in Comic Books, 1942- 1945,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 3 (August 2014), p. 448-486, winner of the American Historical Association W. Turrentine Jackson Prize for Best First Article.
“Funnyman: The Tragic Adventures of A Crime-Fighting Comedian,” The Lowbrow Reader, Vol. 1, No. 9, p. 28-34.
