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Barney Rosset turned down a chance to publish The Hobbit. That, he would recall, was an act of stupendous stupidity.

But The Hobbit would surely have seemed out of place on the long list of significant books Rosset published in his several decades running Grove Press, the imprint that challenged Americas ingrained prudery. Groves specialty wasnt fantasy but realism, in all its ungainly beauty.

Under Rossets plucky leadership, Grove introduced U.S. readers to Henry Millers Tropic of Cancer, William Burroughs Naked Lunch and Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot. Amid the volatile culture of the mid-20th century, Grove legitimized degenerate authors such as Jean Genet and Hubert Selby Jr., and it backed the search for Che Guevaras diaries and the publication of Malcolm Xs Autobiography.

Some prominent names dot the modern history of alternative book publishing James Laughlin at New Directions, Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights, John Martin at Black Sparrow. But Rosset, who died in 2012 after 60 years in the business, was in a category of one.

Inspired, as he writes in this gruff and amusing memoir, by his familys history of rebellion in Ireland and his own youthful admiration for the Robin Hood-style bank robber John Dillinger, he set out to topple government authority over the publishing business. And he succeeded.

First, Grove published the unexpurgated version of D.H. Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover, in 1959. Then it brought out Millers Tropic of Cancer and Burroughs Naked Lunch. In each case, the company fought legal battles to defend the social value of its authors work and the imprints freedom to publish them.

The old obscenity laws were a cultural barrier raised like a Berlin Wall between the public and free expression in literature, film and drama, he writes. Near the end of his life, hes clearly pleased to make it plain: We broke the back of censorship.

In its heyday, Grove was not just a publisher of novels. Rossets little empire helped establish a mass market for the publication of dramatic works, with titles by Beckett, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco, Joe Orton, David Mamet and many more.

Grove published the Evergreen Review, which hosted a sizable chunk of the literary and political discussion of the 60s. The company also elbowed into the film business; Rossets recollections of Norman Mailers ridiculous escapades while directing his film Maidstone, involving real violence and a drunken Herv Villechaize, are a hoot.

Boldface names make cameos throughout. Rosset, who was married five times, kept up a long friendship with his first wife, the painter Joan Mitchell, and he writes of being stalked by Valerie Solanas, the militant feminist who shot Andy Warhol. (She once showed up at the Grove offices with an ice pick in her pocket.) In another episode, he negotiates with Francis Ford Coppola, who briefly entertained the idea of buying Grove Press.

Rosset reportedly began writing his autobiography a decade or so before his death, and its publication now could have something to do with the timing of an upcoming biography by Michael Rosenthal called Barney. By the second half of the book, Rossets habit of excerpting his correspondence with some of his closest confidants becomes a bit of an irritant. To his credit, he also gives voice to some of his detractors, including fellow publisher Maurice Girodias, who calls his colleague unbearable.

For bibliophiles and those with a renewed investment in guarding the First Amendment, Rossets long-overdue account of his career in publishing is a welcome addition to all those musty old Grove paperbacks. Recalling the implications of his first big censorship battle, for Lady Chatterleys Lover, he writes, It would be a savage kick in the face to Death and a lovely kiss to Life. That could have been the company slogan.

Former Chronicle critic James Sullivan is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe and the author of four books. Email: books@sfchronicle.com

Rosset

My Life in Publishing and How I Fought Censorship

By Barney Rosset

(OR Books; 360 pages; $28)

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'Rosset: My Life in Publishing and How I Fought Censorship' - San Francisco Chronicle