That’s a terrible question that gives
me spiritual anxiety. But to get right down to it, I’m just someone who loves
culture. I’m fascinated by why people do the things they do, from ethics to
aesthetics. As a music journalist, I have interviewed everyone from local bands
to Grammy award-winning artists for publications like Alternative Press,
Kerrang!, Revolver, and Loudwire. My work as a freelance
entertainment writer carried me to other types of lifestyle writing, including
food and travel. I am a regular contributor for Reader’s Digest.
I wrote...
From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Changed Society
From the Basement is part narrative, part oral history.
It weaves my personal journey as a lover of emo music with the confessions of
the musicians themselves. It explores what was at once the most mocked and
adored genre, as well as its wider societal implications regarding subjects
like mental health and toxic masculinity. Spanning 1980s hardcore through present-day emo rap, this book features interviews with Minor Threat, Taking
Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Saves the Day, and more.
It is a
passionate analysis of how pop culture affects deeper aspects of our lives, as
told from the point of view of someone who has suffered from depression.
This oral history gets in at the ground
floor of 1960s proto-punk and chronicles how it led to the infamous punk bands
of the 1970s. Written and recorded by Punk Magazine founder Legs McNeil,
this book gives you a front-row seat to the exploits of New York Dolls, David
Bowie, and Sex Pistols. It is incredibly genuine in the way it captures the
flippant and belligerent attitudes of the era. It’s witty and it’s gritty, which
are the two requirements of excellent journalism.
This is the true story of a misunderstood culture phenomenon, one embracing Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Patti Smith, The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, The Clash and The Damned. It is a story of sex, drugs and rock and roll, documenting a time of glorious self-destruction and perverse innocence - punk was possibly the last time so many people will have had so much fun killing themselves. Legs McNeil, founder of "Punk" magazine has interviewed those who were members of the punk scene, from the brightest stars to the most observant groupies.
American Hardcore is like the more aggressive cousin to Please
Kill Me. While the latter is more of a narrative, American Hardcore
is an audiophile’s masterpiece. It catalogs the evolution of hardcore music
from coast to coast: its code of ethics, bloody brawls, and unrelenting spirit.
It is as much a compilation of photographs and shows flyers as it is in interviews,
providing a bird’s-eye view of the subculture. I appreciate this book for its
scope and its commitment to documentation.
"American Hardcore sets the record straight about the last great American subculture"—Paper magazine
Steven Blush's "definitive treatment of Hardcore Punk" (Los Angeles Times) changed the way we look at Punk Rock. The Sony Picture Classics–distributed documentary American Hardcore premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. This revised and expanded second edition contains hundreds of new bands, thirty new interviews, flyers, a new chapter ("Destroy Babylon"), and a new art gallery with over 125 rare photos and images.
This is the off-the-wall, outrageous
rock n’ roll autobiography that satisfies your guilty pleasures. It’s the
insider story of Mötley Crüe’s ultimate rock star life that is at once
disgusting, exciting, and freeing. Post up on a beach somewhere with this whirlwind
tour diary for a fun afternoon of sex and drugs.
Celebrate thirty years of the world's most notorious rock band with the deluxe collectors' edition of The Dirt-the outrageous, legendary, no-holds-barred autobiography of Motley Crue. Fans have gotten glimpses into the band's crazy world of backstage scandals, celebrity love affairs, rollercoaster drug addictions, and immortal music in Motley Crue books like Tommyland and The Heroin Diaries, but now the full spectrum of sin and success by Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, and Mick Mars is an open book in The Dirt. Even fans already familiar with earlier editions of the bestselling expose will treasure this gorgeous deluxe edition. Joe…
Speaking of drugs, let’s talk about
Hunter S. Thompson. For me, this seminal work rooted in 1960s counter culture
is more about how to write like yourself than a misguided road trip on drugs.
Thompson’s voice is so uniquely brazen; he writes his story with the same
grittiness that the best rock autobiographies possess. It’s an amazing example
of how much a journalist can insert himself into the topic he’s covering. It
breaks the cardinal rule of objective journalism, but in doing so, tells a true
story of its own.
'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive ..."'
Hunter S. Thompson is roaring down the desert highway to Las Vegas with his attorney, the Samoan, to find the dark side of the American Dream. Armed with a drug arsenal of stupendous proportions, the duo engage in a surreal succession of chemically enhanced confrontations with casino operators, police officers and assorted Middle Americans.
This stylish reissue of Hunter S. Thompson's iconic masterpiece, a controversial bestseller when…
Culture critic Chuck Klosterman is
essentially the next-gen Hunter S. Thompson. This book is a stream of
consciousness foray into contemporary pop culture, ranging from essays on
sports to music to reality TV. It’s an odd, brilliant, self-indulgent take on
the American zeitgeist. Feel smart and have a laugh at the same time.
With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Internet porn, breakfast cereal, serial killers, Pamela Anderson, literary Jesus freaks, and the real difference between apples and oranges (of which there is none). Sex, Drugs and Coca Puffs is ostensibly about movies, sport, television, music, books, video games and kittens, but really it's about us. All of us.
Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages of citations and interviews with more than 250 key protagonists, experts, and witnesses.
So far, the book is the main -- and only -- antidote to a slew of early partisan “Benghazi” polemics, and the first to put the attack in its longer term historical, political, and social context. If you want to understand some of the events that have shaped present-day America, from political polarization and the election of Donald Trump, to January 6, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russian expansionism, and the current Israel-Hamas war, I argue, you need to understand some of the twists and turns of America's most infamous "non-scandal, scandal.”
I was in Benghazi well before, during, and after the attack as a US diplomat and co-director of a medical NGO. I have written three books, and have been a contributor to The NYT, Foreign Affairs, Forbes, Salon, The Financial Times, Newsweek, and others.
On September 11, 2012, Al Qaeda proxies attacked and set fire to the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, killing a US Ambassador and three other Americans. The attack launched one of the longest and most consequential 'scandals' in US history, only to disappear from public view once its political value was spent.
Written in a highly engaging narrative style by one of a few Western experts on Libya, and decidely non-partisan, Benghazi!: A New History is the first to provide the full context for an event that divided, incited, and baffled most of America for more than three years, while silently reshaping…
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