of his testimony is motivated by a desire to separate sexual openness and honesty, which he believes is a public good, from harmful exploitation. After Bainbridge's testimony, the jury finds the book not obscene. The prosecutor vows to try the case again in a different part of the state, but defense attorney Barrett states that it is ridiculous to restrict what people are allowed to read in the privacy of their own homes or to use art as a scapegoat for much deeper societal issues. Historical basis The Seven Minutes likely is based on the prosecution of New York City bookstore owner Irwin Weisfeld in the early 1960s. Weisfeld's case (New York v. Bookcase, Inc.) was well publicized in its time and played a key role in a series of crucial rulings regarding 1st amendment protection of literary works. Adaptation The book was made into the film The Seven Minutes, directed by Russ Meyer in 1971, with Philip Carey, John Carradine, Wayne Maunder, Tom Selleck, and Yvonne De Carlo. In popular culture The Olympia Press of Maurice Girodias, who was interviewed by Wallace during research for his book, published the novel The Original Seven Minutes, and its author on the title page was J.J. Jadway; its content followed the indications in Wallace's novel. In other words, if Wallace's novel dealt with an allegedly obscene, fictional book, Olympia Press claimed to be the publishers. Following legal action by Wallace, the book was withdrawn, and later republished as The Seven Erotic Minutes with the purported author's name and all references to Wallace removed. In the epilogue to the novel Eleven Minutes, Paulo Coelho cites Irving Wallace's book as a source of inspiration. References 1969 American novels American novels adapted into films Legal thriller novels Novels by Irving Wallace Simon & Schuster books