| Bomb the Suburbs is the first book written by American author William Upski Wimsatt. First published in 1994, Bomb the Suburbs asked the question "Should graffiti writers organize to tear up the cities, or should they really be bombing the suburbs?", but to think that this book deals only with graffiti and hip-hop is selling it short. Through a somewhat skitzophrenic approach, Wimsatt lays down straight talk on white guys who think they are black, the potential of kids written off by society-at-large, and the state of cities today.
If you think you are non-conformist, a rebel, or just think differently, you need to read this book. It offers an original point of view, and will at least stay with you. At the most it will get you into the No More Prisons movement, and generally help you change the world for the better.
As quoted from the cover of Bomb the Suburbs:
"WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS LONG-ASS SHIT..."
"The suburbs is more than just an unfortunate geographical location, it is an unfortunate state-of-mind. It's the American state-of-mind, founded on fear, conformity, shallowness of character, and dullness of imagination.
Most books are suburban books. Neatly designed, neatly packaged, and automatically produced. The author chooses one topic, one voice, one style, one audience, one point of view, then lays out the book according to plan.
This book is organized like a city. It's cluttered and dense and full of interesting stuff. It welcomes all kinds of people who don't have anything in common with each other. Its shops and restaurants offer a variety of home-made, one-of-a-kind items.
It gets treated like a city too. People hate the book without knowing anything about it. They rip down the posters. They speed through the book, if they go through it at all, with their doors locked and their windows rolled up.
Banks tell me I have bad credit. Police officers arrest me for putting up ads with scotch tape. I can tell the people who will read this carefully because the look me in the eye."
print history
Bomb the Suburbs can now be found in the revised second edition, if at all. Only 3,000 copies were printed of the first edition, making it rare but not essential. The second edition added a short paragraph to the last page. The book is currently in reprint by Subway & Elevated, a division of Soft Skull Press.
ISBN: 0-964-38550-3
More info: http://www.softskull.com
| 
