What’s this book going to be about?
The book will explore the culture, politics and practice of the original wave of British anarcho-punk between 1977 and 1984. It will examine what anarcho-punk set out to achieve; what the ideas of the movement work; how different strands of the movement attempted to put its ideas into practice; and what became of those cultural and political experiments.
Who is the author, and what else has he written about this subject
The answer to that question can be found here.
Who is publishing the book; and when will it be available?
The book will be published by the anarchist publishers AK Press, a publisher with an extensive and ever-growing catalogue of titles on anarchism, counter-culture and resistance movements around the globe. Publication was originally scheduled for 2008, but no new confirmed publication date has yet been set.
How will this book be different to other books on anarcho-punk that have been published?
The fact that there are now a growing number of books on different aspects of anarcho-punk is an extremely positive and welcome development. These titles are beginning to challenge the exclusion of anarcho-punk from the accepted and ‘acceptable’ histories of punk rock. A review by the author of The Hippies Now Wear Black of two of those books, The Story of Crass The Day the Country Died, can be found here. Alongside the fact that The Hippies Now Wear Black does not focus exclusively on the work of Crass, the single most immediate difference between this book and others so far published is that this is primarily a cultural-political history of the movement and the sub-cultures which comprised it, rather than a musical history. The Hippies Now Wear Black is being published by AK Press, an anarchist publishing house, rather than a publisher of musical biographies or band histories – and it’s the ideas and practice of anarcho-punk that will form the overarching themes of the book.
I’ve some ideas, recollections or material from the time that might be useful or relevant. Is it worth me getting in touch?
Yes, definitely. In the first instance, please use the contact form here.
