Notes from underground : zines and the politics of alternative culture

by Stephen Duncombe

Paper Book, 2008

Status

Checked out

Publication

Bloomington, IN : Microcosm, c2008.

Description

Slug & Lettuce, Pathetic Life, I Hate Brenda, Dishwasher, Punk and Destroy, Sweet Jesus, Scrambled Eggs, Maximunrocknroll—these are among the thousands of publications which circulate in a subterranean world rarely illuminated by the searchlights of mainstream media commentary. In this multifarious underground, Pynchonesque misfits rant and rave, fans eulogize, hobbyists obsess. Together they form a low-tech publishing network of extraordinary richness and variety. Welcome to the realm of zines. In this, the first comprehensive study of zine publishing, Stephen Duncombe describes their origins in early-twentieth-century science fiction cults, their more proximate roots in 60s counter-culture and their rapid proliferation in the wake of punk rock. While Notes from Underground pays full due to the political importance of zines as a vital web of popular culture, it also notes the shortcomings of their utopian and escapist outlook in achieving fundamental social change. Duncombe's book raises the larger questionof whether it is possible to rebel culturally within a consumer society that eats up cultural rebellion. Packed with extracts and illustrations from a wide array of publications, past and present, Notes from Underground is the first book to explore the full range of zine culture and provides a definitive portrait of the contemporary underground in all its splendor and misery.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member superblue
absolutely one of the best and most up to date books written on the subject of zines. this book expounds upon zine history, politics, communities, and more in order to get a clearer picture of who and what is involved in this (now archaic) medium. though this is an academic look at zines, the
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language is not impenetrable and the book is accessible to someone reading about zines for the first time or the veteran zinester.

there are a lot of great scholarly journal articles about certain individual parts of zine communities, but for an overall look, this book is great at contextualizing and concisely telling the story of zines.
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LibraryThing member eenerd
Fascinating history of zines and "alternative" culture as well as a thorough critique; the updated Conclusion, with its discussion of internet publishing and the difference between that and true DIY, is revelatory.

Language

Physical description

256 p.; 18 cm

ISBN

9781934620373
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