Skinheads: A Guide to an American Subculture

by Tiffini Travis, Perry Hardy

Skinheads: A Guide to An American Subculture is an insider's look at the history of skinheads in the United States, from their emergence from the U.S. hardcore underground in the 1980s in New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, to the current scene that thrives in many major metropolitan areas today.



What makes this revelatory book so compelling is its one-of-a-kind view of skinhead culture from the inside out. Coauthor Perry Hardy is a skinhead, bass player for the band, The Templars, and veteran member of the American skinhead scene since the onset of the movement. Based on his experiences, plus interviews with dozens of skinheads of all kinds, Skinheads draws back the curtain to reveal a world that more often is simply a haven for those disaffected from society, rather than a subculture of hatred or violence.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2010

Reviews

[River · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really basic overview and history of the skinhead subculture. Overall a bit too forgiving of the rightwing and racist aspects of the subculture.

The book "A Philosophy of Punk" gives a better overview of skinheads (while far less technical, i.e. no talk about the specific brands of jeans skinheads wear).

[Kerby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is sick. Anyone interested in the punk movement, subculture of straight edge, diversity through collective groups of resistance. Incredible. I loved learning about the history of the skinhead movement, before it turned fascist-core (obviously). This book opened my interests to diving into tons of other subcultures, and I think it gives a really solid understanding of how to analyse culture through smaller groups of resistance/counter-culture. Super great stuff while also being extremely interesting for people involved in any sort of alternative community (through music, fashion, etc)..

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is co-authored by librarian Tiffini Travis and a Perry Hardy, bass player for the Oi! band, Templars. It contains a short narrative history of the U.S. skinhead culture, a thorough annotated bibliography, and a number of primary documents as well as an article adapted from the PhD thesis of Eric Andersen about the emergence of right-wing Skinheads out of the punk scene in Haight-Ashbury. The resources in the book are invaluable for anyone beginning a research project on skinheads. The perspective of the book, as is not surprising, is generally uncritical of Oi! and the large "non-political" middle between self-professed Nazi skins and actively Anti-Racist skins organized in groups like SHARP and Anti-Racist Action. However, the descriptions of non-political & Oi! skinhead values (nationalism, brotherhood, opposition to the welfare state and celebration of violence) would strike many anti-fascist scholars and activists as at least proto-fascist.