The Candy Men

the long version

"A Rabelaisian satire loosely based on Voltaire's Candide, Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg's Candy became one of the most famous novels of the wild 1960s. Detailing its humble beginnings in Paris through its agonizing three-year writing gestation (often on paper napkins, lost or destroyed), the authors' wily business dealings first with French-based publisher Maurice Girodias, then Putnam in America, this book follows with unblinking scrutiny Candy's underground (then mainstream) success, its overboard piracy, its legal shenanigans, and its all-star movie flop. Replete with deceptions and self-deceptions, midnight dope runs, and general pandemonium, The Candy Men is as much fun to read as the original novel itself. And far more instructive."--Jacket.