Spirit of '69: A Skinhead Bible

by George Marshall

The definitive book on the British skinhead phenomenon. From the late 60s to the present, this book gives it to you straight. Style, music, football, aggro. From SHARP to the scourge of the neo-nazis. A wealth of photographs, graphics and cuttings make this a rather indispensable guide.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art, Cultural

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Tyff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am partial to this title since i used to be a pen pal with George Marshall when he was writing it.. My picture is in the 1991 first pressing so yeah i am totally biased:-) Crybabies like to poke jabs at the "skinhead manual" reputation of this book but before this title came out- hate to break it to you- but we used Skinhead by Nick Knight the same way in the early 80s.. now you kids have the internet....If you weren't the first generation of a subculture emulation is unavoidable.

Having said that- reading this book as a professional researcher, there is a great compilation of primary articles and images as well as one of the more comprehensive descriptions/listings of early reggae (of course it seemed more impressive before anyone could download digital music). Much to the chagrin of many, George included all segments of the subculture including the right wing and left.. His thoroughness makes this title the single most comprehensive account of the skinhead subculture in the UK...sad its more cool to talk crap about it than to appreciate it for its historical merits.

My only complaint about this title is the lack of proper citations and image permissions. Technically George could be sued to the hilt for including all the reprints he used.. but if you can get your hands on the 1991 edition (the one w the most images) its well worth it if you are a scholar or into the subculture.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this such a high rating because it's the training manual for skins. It serves its purpose well and goes over everything. It's not racist or national front and it's really the only sourcebook for this marginalized culture. C'mon, everybody's got to read it once so when some young whippersnapper comes on "all hard" you say "Did you read that in Spirit of '69?" sneeringly and demand the respect that you deserve for being an old fart.


And that ain't much.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading for:
1. Primer on how to dress if you want to be a skin
2. Humor
3. You can tell everyone you read it; therefore, you're cool

In reality, it's worth reading for a history lesson, if nothing else.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah the skinhead thing never really appealed to me. If this book is, as it claims to be, the definitive book on skinheads then what little doubt I have that the skinhead scene at its roots was not any kind of real world working class movement but just another teeny bopper fashion/music scene pose mixed with bullying hooliganism has been erased. I will be fair and say a few good people have come out of that movement though. These people also grew up and moved on to other things. Sorry but anybody that feels the need to turn themselves into some sort of walking cliche and caricature, no matter how many real world risks they may put themselves in the way of, come off as just roleplayers who have no clue as to their true self or identity.

The author of this book writes in a very ranting "zine" like way (which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing) and is apparently a long time skinhead himself. Also this book is VERY English, which I suppose a skinhead history should be. The most interesting and useful stuff in Spirit of 69 is about the earliest days of the skinhead movement. After that it mainly consists of ska and oi music scene history and very poserish stuff pertaining to skinhead fashion and clothing. It does go into other topics like football hooliganism, the various factions and divisions of skinheads, the media circus that followed the skinhead scene during the 80's, some of the more infamous riots and brawls, there is even a fair amount of space given to those little Italian scooters that many skins in England used to zip around on. Its a mildly entertaining and interesting book in some parts, one thing I like about it is for the most part its an independent first hand history, which is something I would like to see more of on all topics instead of every non fiction book being written by professional academics, as is the case 95% of the time. Overall I wouldn't go out of my way to recomend Spirit of 69 to anybody unless they were highly into ska and oi music or they were some sort of retro fashion victim with a fetish for boots, braces and bald heads.

[Calebrt]

Oh...to be 14 again.

[Chris]

nice

[Keiron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quality, a no-nonsense book dedicated to skinhead subculture told in the most positive light available. ideal for newbies of the scene, and people like myself who have a lot of interest in the subculture's origin and music. Covers all the way to the original '69 skinhead to the more recent and NF affiliated ones. some fab photos. quite pricey these days, so getting a mint copy will cost a fair bomb.

[Alif Hafiz]

wei babi aku nak baca macam mana

[Jimmy Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boot boys, people don't understand what this is about. Kicked out of rastafarian clubs they just wanted to dance. So creativity set loose to be someone other than"them". Oi

[Lia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Associare di default gli skinhead alle destre è una boiata, fin qui tutti d'accordo. Detto ciò, il punto di vista dell'autore pare quantomeno un poco ambiguo. Con la pretesa d'essere apolitico minimizza le derive xenofobe fino a giustificare il paki-bashing col pretesto dell'isteria collettiva montata dai media di fronte all'"invasione asiatica". Sostiene che l'attacco ai danni degli immigrati "era più una questione di territorio che di colore della pelle". Nel sesto capitolo scrive che "chiunque ha diritto ad avere le proprie opinioni, ma a quanto pare alcuni ne hanno più diritto di altri" e poco dopo afferma che aderire allo Young National Front era in fondo solo una cosa che "faceva parte della crescita, come fumare di nascosto nel bagno della scuola, oppure uscire prima per saltare la lezione di francese". Questo genere di equidistanza è praticamente indifferenza.
Peccato perché musicalmente parlando invece sarebbe stato anche molto interessante.

[Chef-andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I truly liked. it is not a book for everyone. But one needs to keep their mind open to new things. This book if you wanted to buy can be a little spendee. Anywhere from $95 dollars to $500 dollars. I found a perfect copy ate Half Price Books in Minneapolis and paid $15 dollars. I do not think they knew the prices of this book.

I liked this book because it shared the TRUE spirit of the English Skinhead Movement. Based deep in SKA music, and to learn of the Black and Asian Skinhead members back in the day. One learns of the difference between the British Skinheads and the American Skinheads. One is a movement about music and togetherness, the other of hatred.

[Kirk Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know the history of this youth culture this is the book to get. Marshall is partial to the scene so there's some cheerleading but I'd rather get an overall view from an insider than some armchair sociologist. Although Marshall is a little too forgiving on the violence in the scene, his wry sense of humor is welcome. A great corrective to all the mis-information you get in popular culture and the media.

[Smith Vicious · Rating 5 out of 5]

ga tauuuu sihh! cuma pengen nge add aja!

[Fahmi Arfiandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

kitab suci para skinhead ... learn more then you'll find what you looking for...bacaan masa muda..wkwkwk!

[Rob Tiedemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've wanted to read this book for years and it was awesome to finally get a hold of it. Did not disappoint, and after all this time I still had plenty to learn from it.

[Acap · Rating 5 out of 5]

history of culture make fun

[Mokoy Nakadnas]

i,m skinhead and proud for that and I was know I,m not the white men in the skinhead.but I try to be like skinned but not the racist skinhead

[Darshan Shetty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read it to understand how and why cultural pendulum swung after the 60s to polar opposite which it did provide. Very Accurate on History of Skinheads.

[SHUiZMZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book many years ago, sometime after high school when I was working at Tower Records in Schuamburg.