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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties Paperback - 1996

by George McKay

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Reader reviews for Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties

From the publisher

Welcome to the social and environmental devastation that is Britain in 1996. Welcome to interchangeable political parties and their chattering media jesters pulling together to make Johnny Rotten's dream come true: no future. But despite their best efforts, fear, cynicism and the National Lottery aren't the whole story. Protest hasn't disappeared during the last twenty years, and nor have solidarity and imagination. They have simply taken new forms; they have moved out and moved on. More and more people, young people especially, are making a virtue of necessity and living outside Britain's rotting institutional fabric. Travelers, tribes, ravers or squatters, direct-action protesters of every kind, DIYers. This book is the first attempt to write their history, to explore and to celebrate their endlessly creative senselessness.

George McKay looks back at the hippies of the sixties and punks of the seventies, and shows how their legacies have been transformed into what he calls cultures of resistance. His journey through the undergrounds of the last two decades take us from the Windsor Free Festival of 1972 to the Castlemorton Free Rave Megaparty exactly twenty years later, from the anarchopunk band Crass via Teepee Valley and Glastonbury to today's ever-intensifying anti-road protests, and to the widespread opposition to the Criminal Justice Act.

Drawing on fanzines and free papers, record lyrics, interviews and diaries, Senseless Acts of Beauty gives a vivid, insider account of countercultures, networks and movements that until now have remained largely unrecorded. At the same time, George McKay analyzes their effects, and gives his own answers to the questions they pose: what are their politics, their aspirations, their consequences? One thing is certain, he argues: if there is resistance anywhere in Britain today, then it is here, in the beat-up buses, beleaguered squats and tree-top barricades, that we should start to look for it.

Details

  • Title Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties
  • Author George McKay
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Verso, London
  • Publication date 1996-06-17
  • ISBN 9781859840283 / 1859840280
  • Weight 1.31 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.65 x 7.83 x 0.62 in (21.97 x 19.89 x 1.57 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Category Pop Arts / Pop Culture
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 00000000
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.109

Media reviews

“The secret history of the last two decades.”—Jon Savage

“This is the most authoritative and compelling book on DIY culture I’ve come across.”—Jeremy Cunningham, The Levellers

About the author

George McKay is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Salford, UK, where he is Director of the Communication, Cultural & Media Studies Research Centre. He writes on alternative cultures and identities--'cultural studies with a soundtrack' is how his website puts it--and his books include DiY Culture, Senseless Acts of Beauty, Glastonbury: A Very English Fair, Community Music: A Handbook (co-edited with Pete Moser), Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain, Radical Gardening: Politics, Idealism & Rebellion in the Garden, and Shakin' All Over: Popular Music and Disability. He maintains his own website at georgemckay.org.

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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties

Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties

by McKay, George

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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties

by McKay, G

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781859840283 / 1859840280
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Verso Books, 1996. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Clean from markings. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. Library sticker on front cover. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,750grams, ISBN:9781859840283
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties: Cultures of Resistance Since...
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties

by Mckay, George

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781859840283 / 1859840280
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Verso Books, 1996. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Clean from markings. In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Library sticker on front cover. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,700grams, ISBN:9781859840283
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties
Stock photo: cover may vary

Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties

by McKay, G

  • Used
  • Paperback
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Used
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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781859840283 / 1859840280
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Description:
Verso Books, 1996. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Clean from markings. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,650grams, ISBN:9781859840283
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Item price
A$13.26
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties
Stock photo: cover may vary

Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance Since the Sixties

by McKay, G

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781859840283 / 1859840280
Quantity available
1
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Item price
A$13.26
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Description:
Verso Books, 1996. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Clean from markings. In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,700grams, ISBN:9781859840283
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Item price
A$13.26
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Senseless Acts of Beauty Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties
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Senseless Acts of Beauty Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties

by McKay, George

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London: Verso, 1996. Paperback. Very Good. 210 pages; 7 3/4 x 8 3/4" Cover corners and the first few page corners are lightly creased; light brown speckles to page edges.
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Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistence Since the Sixties

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by McKay, George

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by McKay, George

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