Counterculture

The Story of America from Bohemia to Hip-Hop

De: Alex Zamalin

Narrado por: Dan Levy

A political and intellectual history of American counterculture and the historical figures who redefined mainstream understandings of freedom, culture, art, and politics—from The Beat Generation to Basquiat

This entertaining, intellectual history fulfills the growing appetite for marginalized narratives. Counterculture brilliantly interrogates the diversity of counterculture and the interwoven relationship between each individual legacy. From Anarchism to the Harlem Renaissance, Alex Zamalin unveils the humanity behind these romanticized figures and popularized movements to capture revolutionary freedom in action.

American counterculture, defined as a movement whose values are outside and oppositional to mainstream norms and whose practices fundamentally reject what is socially respectable, ultimately transformed the 20th century.

With key players:

• Emma Goldman
• Billie Holiday
• Allen Ginsberg
• Amiri Baraka
• Jean-Michel Basquiat

And key movements:

• Anarchism
• Black Bohemia
• The Harlem Renaissance
• The Beat Generation
• The Black Arts Movement
• Hip-Hop

Counterculture reaches new depths, tackling a wide range of historical, social, and political topics, and expanding contemporary understandings of American cultural tradition.

At a time when counterculture was on the outskirts of American society, Alex Zamalin explores the reason why.©2025 Alex Zamalin (P)2025 Beacon Press Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Zamalin provides an engaging, well-researched, and immersive set of readings to shift our thinking about American countercultures. Zamalin connects dots we might not expect, across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and class, and in the process brings new life and power to a concept that has too often been dismissed as fringe and frivolous.”
—John Keene, author of Punks: New & Selected Poems

“Zamalin approaches these countercultures from multiple perspectives so that his book is not only the white, male, heteronormative history of the movements but a more inclusive account. VERDICT: A good introduction to the process of culture making in the 20th century.” —Library Journal

“Zamalin demonstrates incontestably why he is considered unequivocally to be our premier cultural historian.” —Gerald Horne, author of Armed Struggle? Panthers and Communists, Black Nationalists and Liberals in Southern California Through the Sixties and Seventies

“Counterculture is a brilliant text. Zamalin’s agile mind creates connections that we did not know existed. From Emma Goldman to Amiri Baraka, this book is an expertly woven tapestry of radical, marginalized cultures and movements and the ways in which they have built upon one another. A necessary book that fills a gap in our collective history. At a time when it feels like hope is in short supply, this book is a necessary corrective: a reminder that the struggle is always ongoing.” —Dave Zirin, author of The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World