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

Stephen Duncombe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | Series: Haymarket

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"At long last, somebody's got it right. Duncombe does the essential work of cultural analysis that neither the national weeklies with their demographic fantasies, nor the czars of cultural studies with their determination to locate dissent in daytime television, can never bring themselves to perform." - Tom Frank, The Baffler "Notes from Underground is an impressive book, illuminating the possibilities and limits of democratic communication in a world where colossal media trusts make small-scale media activity both difficult and invisible. In its subject matter and its original conception, Duncombe's pioneering study engages some of the elemental issues of our time." - Stuart Ewen

About the Author

Stephen Duncombe is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the State university of New York, College at Old Westbury. He co-edits and publishes a zine, Primary Documents, and writes regularly on culture and politics for The Baffler.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Verso (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859841589
• ISBN-13: 978-1859841587
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars he doesn't dumb it down January 20, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Disagreeing with a recent online review, this book is valuable for its sociological scholarly analysis. Essentially every other book currently existing on the topic of zines is nothing more than a very limited and stilted collection of samples from zines every zinester worth their salt has already heard of ad nauseum. While Duncombe is a little heavy on the utopic and overly optimistic naivete in regards to the ability of alternative media subcultures to change the dominant mainstream as we know it, it was very refreshing to read a book about zines that didn't seem to feel the necessity to "dumb it down" for the zine kids, many of whom are exceptionally bright. This is certainly worth checking out if you do a zine and are into thinking, instead of regurgitating the same old, same old, as far too many zines do.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book about zines yet written. January 25, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This is a sobering, inspiring book. Duncombe shows us the boundless potential of zines and zine culture. At the same time he diagnoses the failure of zines to reach out and become relevant to people outside our little "underground". All the effort and enthusiasm that we pour into zines is a small revolution, but if we all joined forces and poured that effort into a movement, we could truly change the system rather than just complaining and waging futile rebellion against it. This book should be required for any would-be revolutionaries, punks, zine creators, and thinking human beings.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You've got to make something your self after read it. October 9, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This certainly is one of the best works about Zines. Steve layout a bunch of topics which are rather unknown into zine's scene. The big ammount of quotes reflects his comitment and background to perform this book. I still amazed of the number of quotes and interviews, which provides a wide vision of zine culture spreaded in USA. Still I feel a bit disapointed because of Steve just suggests the Zine scene in other countries. I'd like he wrote more about. Though his work is bloody comprehensive and interesting for those into Zines world.