Rockers, Rebels and Romantics: Countercultures in Modern Europe, 1750-Present

The term 'counterculture' is often used to refer to the youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s, but it has a long history in Europe. Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, Rockers, Rebels and Romantics examines how young people turned to art and literature, music, fashion and lifestyle to criticize those with wealth and power. It investigates how, from the earliest romantics to punk rockers and rappers, those who were part of a European counter-culture were responding to beliefs and institutions that they experienced as confining. Through culture, they expressed a desire for a different type of society, and while these visions were rarely implemented in their entirety, countercultures did play an important role in changing society. Placing European cultural history in a global context, this book successfully situates counter-cultural movements within their social and political contexts, while also focusing in on significant individuals to demonstrate the process by which individual impulses to challenge dominant norms become generalized within a group. There are also a range of interesting images included throughout the book that bring this fascinating topic to life, as well as helpful reading and web link lists. Rockers, Rebels and Romantics places countercultures - often considered idiosyncratic, frivolous and insignificant - front and center in the story of modern European history for the first time, presenting their developments in a new and exciting light.