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In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the most important myth that dominates much of radical political, economic, and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture -- a world outside of the consumer-dominated world that encompasses us -- pervades everything from the antiglobalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. And the idea that mocking or simply hoping the "system" will collapse, the authors argue, is not only counterproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society radicals oppose.
In a lively blend of pop culture, history, and philosophical analysis, Heath and Potter offer a startlingly clear picture of what a concern for social justice might look like without the confusion of the counterculture obsession with being different.
Not impressedReviewed by Travis Perry, 2010-01-22
I tried to read all the way through this book, I couldn't do it.
These guys used entire haystacks to create all these straw men. I
was extremely offended by their claim that conformity isn't
perpetuated by mainstream media outlets, not something you would
get away with telling to someone who just recovered from anorexia,
or bulimia, who put themselves through endless amounts of physical
stress because they thought they were fat and ugly in comparison to
the models thrown on every tv show and magazine who try to tell you
what real women should look like. Maybe I should also go tell every
kid who ever got bullied because he didnt wear designer clothes and
look cool that the bruises and emotional scars they got had nothing
to do with being peer pressured into fitting into a mass marketed
image. Then after that, I will proceed to inform them that the tens
of thousands of commercials they have hawked at them every year
from every street corner to radio station to tv set has absolutely
no effect on how they perceive the culture they inhabit, how to
relate to that culture, and construct themselves accordingly to
make a living within that culture.
Yeah, fight club and the matrix were popular, but it didnt strike a
big enough influence on the cultural meme pool as make a hefty
amount of the population burn down every corporate office in the
name of anarcho-primitivism (i also wonder whether the populace got
the message or not, I've met people who liked fight club solely
because they thought brad pitt was hot). These forms of media paled
in comparison to say the pamphlets passed around by the founders of
colonial america that helped spark the american revolution, or even
ice-t's body count song 'cop killer' that helped spark the LA
riots.
Yes products are sold on the pitch of rebellion, but a large
percentage of these 'rebellious products' are not products of
rebellious people (and arguably not bought by them either), but
capitalists trying to get a grip on any kind of movement they think
will make them a dollar- its well known that they do this with
every kind of subculture with musical style and fashion (hence the
loud angry uproar of the indie rock, punk, and hip hop movements
that feel there culture was stolen from them). They wouldnt be
monopolies if they didn't now would they?
Many counterculture people are hyper aware of all of this, and this
is that catch 22 of having an ideology parallel to the dominant
cultures dogma. You can be an anti-nazi jew trapped in nazi
germany, but youll have to eat, drink, and sleep of the property
nazi germany claims to own. You might be an atheist in 15th century
europe, and if you dont pretend to like the catholic church you'll
be jailed, torured, or maybe even put to death. You can be an
anti-war protester in the 60s, but when your time comes, and they
catch you, your ass will get drafted and you'll be forced to go to
a warzone. Does that make any of the above hypocrites? No. It makes
them unfortunate. The same goes for the counter culture: you can be
an anti-capitalist who strongly believes that this corporatist
government is not only wrong but unholy, but as long as they have
tainted every source of water except theirs and have a monopoly on
all the land and tax you for a place to stay... You know where i'm
going with this.
In conclusion: not a good book at all. Nothing new here. Nothing
enlightening either. In fact its a rather disingenuous attempt to
try to can a chunk of values, beliefs, people, and movements all
into one (very messy and vague) category that the average
conservative can feel comfortable rejecting. Even if they don't
know what they're condemning.
You can almost hear Lars sing: "Hot Topic IS NOT punk rock" as the
theme for this fabulous bookReviewed by Cha Lau, 2009-11-21
This book is like sitting with your best friend discussing Freud, Hobbs, Rouseau and the decline of western civilization all in one great evening. Do we have an innate desire to conform or are we repressed seething underneath our thinly veiled smiles? What does it mean to be "cool"? Why does capitalism and consumerism fit nicely into the cash cow of rebellion. What is counter culture and what is revolutionary? If "Alternative" music becomes "Mainstream" then is it still "Alternative"? Questions, and other thought provoking subjects like these, are jam packed in this volume. You get it all in this finely written, entertaining, and enlightening book. My vote for best book of the year!
Logical and powerful.Reviewed by G. Gray, 2008-12-30
Nation of Rebels is definitely something for anyone born in the 80s
or 90s to pick up.
Having said that, the book is an excellent examination of the
countercultural ideals our society assumes in this era. I
specifically recommend this book for my generation because we have
grown up in a world in which we view mass society and globalization
as evils without doubt. We have ingrained in our brains by the
baby-boomers (who now run society) so many of the notions that made
obvious failures in the rebellious times of the 60s and 70s, and
yet we still hold many of their ideas as common sense.
By uncovering these fallacy of these common ideals, Heath and
Potter allow the reader to have a deeper understand of what is
truly causing consumerism (which is ironically the drive to be
rebellious), why we have notions of cool (which are simply modern
class divisions), and a hodgepodge of countercultural thinking we
assume.
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of thinking. Our culture
is countercultural. We are a nation of rebels. So we must
realistically examine it, for the better of all of us. This book is
good for that.
when everybody's a rebel, nobody's a rebelReviewed by Caraculiambro, 2008-05-27
This is a book about the counterculture movement by two Canadian
culture critics. It actually helped me do a lot of growing
up.
That's a bit embarrassing for me to admit, since I'm writing this
in middle age, by which time life is supposed to have smacked one's
various immaturities and ideological obtusenesses out of you one
way or another.
But no. We all have various idiocies lingering under the surface,
left over from our younger years, many times having gotten lodged
deep inside our craniums during our college years, or as a result
of having spent our lives immersed in pop culture.
I have a lot fewer illusions after reading this book.
What illusions am I talking about? Oh, you know, the standard
liberal package of ideas, such as that commerce is fundamentally
evil; that ideally, we should all be living off the land; global
corporations are the summit of iniquity, American values are
imperialistic; those who bum around Europe with a Frisbee and a
guitar are more in touch with their true natures; underground music
is by definition more authentic; anything for the masses is to be
eschewed, "despoiling the planet with waste products of our
luxurious living is a sin, and that the path of righteousness is to
live as frugally as possible," (F. Dyson). That kind of
stuff.
I would say that what this book is, broadly, is an attack on the
Sixties and on radical leftists generally. But that's by
implication: what the authors would probably claim is that this
book is an exposure of the origins and fundamental silliness of
such ideas as the anti-globalization movement, and how claims to
countercultural legitimacy are really just the same game all over
again.
An excellent job. Probably the best book I've read in the last two
years.
There are, by the way, a couple of other books floating around out
there on much the same theme. There's Diana West's recently minted
"The Death of the Grown-Up," which is a good read but not
revelatory, like this one was. Another one I admired tremendously
was Thomas Sowell's "The Vision of the Anointed," written in the
90s.
Yes, it's not often that a book helps you become more (there's no
other word for it) mature. Immediately more serious and realistic,
I mean. Heath and Potter's book did this by means of systematically
taking some of my most cherished but unexamined ideas out for a
ride, and either exposing their contradictions or seeing where they
would logically take one.
This book did what it set out to do: it brings such ideas out into
the open for a good whacking.
As Judge Louis Brandeis is supposed to have said, "Sometimes
sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Useful Debunking of Misguided Thinking: The Sad Legacy of
"Counter"Culture.Reviewed by Bob Fake Name, 2008-03-04
This is one of the most interesting books I've read recently. Do
NOT be discouraged by a couple of the negative reviews!
After having read the book I think it is clear enough that (as is
often the case) the negative reviews are for the most part unfair
and written by people that obviously did not like the what the
authors had to say. What they have to say is clear enough to
anybody with an open mind that reads the book.
I'm overwhelmingly confident that *by far* most people that take a
look at this page and have an interest in this book will find it to
be a fascinating, illuminating read. Without going into it too
much, "Nation of Rebels" directly attacks the idea of
"counterculture" itself and in doing so it's critical of the "New
Left" that emerged out of the 60s. This book will help you
understand so much of the confusion of these last decades and why
the Conservative movement and the Right has had so much political
success. You can see how this book would really tick some folks
off, and I think particularly cultural lefties... It champions more
traditional left leaning or old school liberal, class-based
politics.
Actually, if you like Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter
with Kansas?" and "The Conquest of Cool", (etc.), --you'll love
this book. The authors of "Nation of Rebels" use a central thesis
of Frank's work as a starting point for this book.
