Dime novels were a format of inexpensive popular fiction produced in the United States between 1860 and 1930. Available for as little as a nickel or as much as a dime, they opened up leisure reading for the masses in a way previously not possible.

The first dime novels were initially published around the start of the American Civil War. These sensational stories were full of romance and adventure and became wildly popular in both the United States and in England, where they were known as "penny dreadfuls."

It is said that one his dime novel stories was written on rush order, the completed work containing 40,000 words on only 24 hours' notice, without a typewriter. With the invention of the typewriter, authors were able to churn out stories at an unbelievable rate.

Between 1860 and 1865 alone, Beadle and Adams published more than five million dime novels. During this time, the Civil War made soldiers a prime audience for the publishers who produced books that catered to the men needing mental stimulation during the boredom that often came with camp life.