The 2006 Gertrude J. Robinson Book Prize was awarded to Dr. Bart Beaty, of the University of Calgary, for Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture (University Press of Mississippi, 2005). The prize is awarded annually by the Canadian Communications Association for the best book in communications written by a Canadian scholar or one who works and lives in Canada.

ISBN:56-987-099. Year:2006

In its decision, the jury was unanimous in its praise of Dr. Beaty, writing "Bart Beaty's detailed analytical history of Wertham's career in relation to the origins of mass culture critique reveals Wertham to be a much more complicated, and significant, figure than the notorious anti-comic book advocate he is so often portrayed to be. Beaty details Wertham's often conflicted relationship with both right and left academic and popular cultures of the mid 20th century and, in so doing, provides an important history of the critical uptake of early social-psychological perspectives on mass culture. More importantly, Beaty's discussion of the waxing and waning of Wertham's place in history reveals much about the micro-macro social processes by which the history of a discipline is conceived, authorized, and promulgated."

Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture documents Wertham, too often remembered solely as the psychiatrist and cultural critic whose testimony in United States Senate subcommittees sparked the creation of the Comics Code. When Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent was published in 1954, Wertham (1895-1981) became instantly known as an authority on child psychology. Although he had published several books before Seduction, its sharp criticism of popular culture in general--and comic books in particular--made it a touchstone for debate about issues of censorship, child protection, and freedom of speech. Beaty traces the evolution of Wertham's attitudes toward popular culture and reassesses his place in the debate about pop culture's effects on youth and society, showing him to be more complex that popularly described.