James Joyce's big blue book, Ulysses, ushered in the modernist era and changed the novel for all time. But the genius of Ulysses was also its danger: it omitted absolutely nothing. Joyce, along with some of the most important publishers and writers of his era, had to fight for years to win the freedom to publish it. The Most Dangerous Book tells the remarkable story surrounding Ulysses, from the first stirrings of Joyce's inspiration in 1904 to the book's landmark federal obscenity trial in 1933. Written for ardent Joyceans as well as novices who want to get to the heart of the greatest novel of the twentieth century, The Most Dangerous Book is a gripping examination of how the world came to say Yes to Ulysses.

Nighttown -- Nora Barnacle -- the vortex -- Trieste -- Smithy of souls -- Little modernisms -- The Medici of Modernism -- Zurich -- Power and postage -- The Woolfs -- Brutal madness -- Shakespeare and Company -- Hell in New York -- The Ghost of Comstock -- Elijah is coming -- The People of the State of New York v. Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap -- Circe burning -- The bible of the outcasts -- The booklegger -- The King's chimney -- The pharmacopeia -- Glamour of the clandestine -- Modern classics -- Treponema -- Search and seizure -- The United States of America v. One Book Called "Ulysses" -- The tables of the law.