This book brings a few things together: For starters, it's published by Feral House, which is owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. Founded in 1989, Feral House established itself as a publishing house, championing innovative and celebrated nonfiction books: books that planted the seeds for the development of what would become cultural trends that eventually invaded mainstream culture and, simply put , focusing on unusual, extreme or “forbidden” areas of knowledge. Claiming that Parfrey's EXIT Magazine, his Amok Press press releases, Apocalypse Culture or the complete collection of Answer Me! and Jim Goad's literary canon had a huge impact on your humble narrator in his formative years, would be an understatement par excellence. Feral House has been at the forefront of the counterculture and exposed generations of curious young people to new ideas, concepts and, ultimately, the people behind them, some of whom have become my companions and collaborators. Parfrey continued his journey by co-founding the publishing house Process Media, joining forces with Dilettante Press and thus bringing Robert deGrimston's Process Church text to light. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Other Thing is the author of Hard-Core: Life of my own: The New York City Institution, Mr. Harley Flanagan and His Band, the seminal hardcore band the Cro-Mags. Chances are, if you're a hardcore fan, you're familiar with and infatuated with their work. If not, rest assured that your favorite bands are “hardcore,” as most people know was coined by the likes of Harley. What really got me into Cro-Mags back in the day was the re-release of their original demo as a 10” bootleg. Age of Quarrel had already established itself as a milestone, but the original demo recordings showed shades of rawness that gave the songs a new dimension. It's still one of my top 5 hardcore recordings of all time. At 444 pages, Hard-Core: Life of my own is a substantial tome detailing the life and times of Harley Flanagan. In the comedy-drama film Forrest Gump, the protagonist's life story intersects with many significant social, political and cultural events in American history, and with special effects technology, Forrest appears to interact with historically significant characters, from US presidents to John Lennon: There is no need for anything like that in Flanagan's life as he has been there and done just that. From the tender age of eleven, he was an integral part of what would become the very fabric of modern counterculture, mingling with the likes of Andy Warhol, The Clash, Lemmy, Stiv Bators, Debbie Harry, Allen Ginsberg and learning to play the bass by one of the founding fathers of punk and hardcore, Bad Brains, while already playing drums in his aunt's punk band, The Stimulators. The book, part history book, part real-life Clockwork Orange on steroids, details Harley's upbringing, his wild and violent youth, his influences, and the context of the urban jungle of the 1990s Lower East Side. 70 that eventually spawned the Cro-Mags, a band that embodied the blueprint of what would become known as New York Hardcore and whose history became filled with feuds fueled by animosity among its constituents. What makes Harley's book a great read is that it is not simply a self-indulgent victory lap or short story, but offers perspective and humility. It shows the evolution of a man and is a story of survival, personal transformation and how times have ultimately changed. In addition to shedding light without means.