Terrorist Chic

by Michael Selzer

An exploration of violence in the seventies

206 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1979

About the author

Michael Selzer's very diverse publications reflect a life lived on three continents and interests that range from Biblical text criticism, psychohistorical studies (among others, of major Nazi war criminals based on psychological test data), to Jewish topics (Deliverance Day won a National Jewish Book Award), and the history of the concept of symmetry, the subject of his major book, The Symmetry Norm and the Asymmetric Universe. His careers have included stints in the academic world, journalism, Wall Street, antiquarian bookselling, and Internet commerce. He was co-founder of Bibliofind, the major online database for old, used and rare books that Amazon acquired in 1999 and later merged into its main site. Michael Selzer is an erudite but entertaining lecturer, and has given talks on a large variety of subjects to audiences in Australia, Israel, the UK and the US. At present he is editing a series of important texts in the history of architectural theory, some of which he has also translated.

Reviews

[Sir Michael Röhm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps it's being in a post-9/11 world, but much of what Selzer describes as "terrorist chic" has nothing to do with terrorism. Maybe in the late 70s it was different - Weathermen, SLA, etc. But today, kids fighting in CBGB's or a rock show with violent imagery is nothing special.

While the subtitle is slightly more accurate, the book isn't about violent crime or violent acts - instead it is about psuedo-S&M and rape themed advertising campaigns for clothes, S&M clubs, the "decadence" of Studio 54, CBGB's and similar locales. Basically, Selzer does investigations into what he classifies as "violent" subcultures (how psuedo S&M and disco dancing are "violent" is beyond me) and describes it all with a haughty "I'm above all of this" sneer.

He's determined to find punk, S&M, disco and other "vices" of the 70s pretentious and ridiculous, and his descriptions of the clubs, the people and the events follow suit. While it's interesting as an exploration into these subject from an 'on-the-scene' perspective, the author seems far less interested in reporting and far more interested in puffing himself up. Good for some names and the interviews (including one with resident CBGBs punk Helen Wheels) but not a very good read in general, unless you consider disco dancing and S&M to be horrible blights on society.

One might say that about disco dancing, sure, but S&M? Good clean fun.