Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture [Paperback]

An engaging and scholastic presentation of zines and modern culture

Much history and theory is uncovered here in the first comprehensive study of zine publishing. From their origins in early 20th century science fiction cults, their more proximate roots in 1960s counter-culture and their rapid proliferation in the wake of punk rock, Stephen Duncombe pays full due to the political importance of zines as a vital network of popular culture. He also analyzes how zines measure up to their utopian and escapist outlook in achieving fundamental social change. Packed with extracts and illustrations, he provides a useful overview of the contemporary underground in all its splendor and misery.

It was punk rock that gave us the current zine explosion, with its emphasis on authenticity, sneering disdain for slickness and consumerism, and determination to forge a community based on these principles...clever and funny...we'll always need the malcontents to show us creative ways to flip the bird to Massa. High Times

A timely new critical study...throws some light on the current state of zines and what's at stake. Duncombe, a professor of American Studies and a zine-maker himself, locates zines within a wider bohemian tradition, and maps out both the potential and the limits of their cultural radicalism. The Atlantic

Readers are introduced to a remarkably diverse world of zines and their publishers, whose interests run the gamut: crusading for anarchy in our time, or for the revival of the eight-track tape...but for all of these subjects, silly or serious, Dr. Duncombe argues that zines represent a model of participatory cultural production. Chronicles of Higher Education

Stephen Duncombeis an associate professor at New York University's Gallatin School in the department of Media, Culture and Communications and is a lifelong political activist. He is the author and editor of six books inclãâ