Men of Steel: Siegel and Shuster and the Birth of the Superhero

Superman is one of the most popular icons in the world, and his creation has been written about extensively. Yet, amazingly, none of these accounts have told the full story -- nor a completely accurate one. For the first time this book chronicles the secret history of Superman’s invention and evolution from a New Deal/ Popular Front hero of the “common man” to the humanized American icon of the fifties and sixties. It also looks at the backstage story behind these tales, detailing Siegel’s fierce battles with editors and publishers over control of the character and their attempts to rein in an independent-minded author and an unruly Superman. Andrae interprets Superman stories in light of their historical context: Depression, war, shifts in masculinity and femininity, ethnicity, the Bomb, and the generation gap. The book offers a rich visual history of the largely unknown influences behind the Man of Steel’s creation and new insights into it gleaned from unpublished manuscripts, correspondence, and personal interviews with Superman’s creators and collaborators. The fruit of decades of research, this book offers the definitive account of Siegel and Shuster’s careers. Accepts no substitutes for the definitive history of The Man of Steel; this is it!