Punk Now!! brings together papers from the second incarnation of the Punk Scholars Network International Conference and Postgraduate Symposium, with contributions from revered academics and new voices alike in the field of punk studies. The collection ruminates on contemporary and non-Anglophone punk, as well as its most anti-establishment tendencies. It exposes not only modern punk, but also punk at the margins: areas that have previously been poorly served in studies on the cultural phenomenon. By compiling these chapters, Matt Grimes and Mike Dines offer a critical contribution to a field that has been saturated with nostalgic and retrospective research. The range and depth of these chapters encapsulates the diverse nature of the punk subculture – and the adjacent academic study of punk – today.

'Moving beyond the common and well-worn analyses of London and New York City is always a welcome addition to punk histories and currents and allows us to better understand the many nuanced meanings of punk around the globe. It also allows for the voices of often missing peoples to be heard. The book also does a good job of taking nuanced approaches to the politics of punk. [...] The book is well done. Readers from multiple academic disciplines, as well as punks who just want a refreshing and intelligent approach to our culture, will find something to appreciate in it. I am left hoping that there will be more compilations of papers from Punk Scholars Network conferences and symposiums released in the coming years.'

Matt Grimes is a senior lecturer and researcher in music industries and radio at Birmingham City University’s School of Media. 

Mike Dines is a lecturer of popular music at Middlesex University and cofounder of the Punk Scholars Network.