Teenage Hipster in the Modern World: From the Birth of Punk to the Land of Bush: Thirty Years of Apocalyptic Journalism

by Mark Jacobson, Richard Price (Foreword)

In the pages of The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Esquire, New York, Maxim, and GQ, Mark Jacobson has carried on in the tradition of such titans as Joe Mitchell, A. J. Liebling, Jimmy Breslin, and Pete Hamill as one of New York City's finest journalistic provocateurs. Now he collects the best of his years in Teenage Hipster in the Modern World.
Jacobson has been witness to a decidedly different sort of history. His "beats" range far and wide, delving into the realms of politics, sports, and celebrity in pieces on such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Julius Erving, Chuck Berry, Pam Grier (in her Scream, Blacula, Scream days), Martin Scorsese, and many others. But for Jacobson, New York City has always been Topic Number One. Jacobson tells the story of the city in his classic essays on the beginnings of punk rock back in the times of "pregentrification" to the heart-wrenching days of 9/11.
With a foreword from best-selling author Richard Price, Teenage Hipster in the Modern World is a hilarious and poignant snapshot of a city, a generation, and a man who wonders how he went from hanging out at CBGB to being an AARP card-holding father of three.

Genres: Journalism, Music, Nonfiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2005

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a middling magazine hack, i know I'm supposed to read this collection of thirty years of pieces by a cat I'll annoying call the post-punk leibling and say 'see, if i only had this kind of freedom, then i too could shimmy through the firmament like a tiny dancer.' But who would I be kidding (not me). I don't wanna go up to harlem and hang around with a heroin kingpin. i don't wanna go to a disco with pam grier or chase down bruce lee death conspiracues. I'm sorry but give me rilo kiley, a conference room and chloe walsh's balls on my chin and the bj skinner subject in me will always say 'boy howdy! (or 'blug glug glug', remember chloe walsh's balls are on my chin). Also, to be honest, i got kinds tired of watching this guy performs his performativness over and over again, even if he does have a lot of 'soul' to his writing (the end of the yoko piece almost made me choke up). i dunno. it seemed like watching the slam dunk contest, which usually only holds my attention for about the half the event, which is how far i am in this book.

[Brad B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I'm sad when I finish a book because it want more. This is one of those books. I really like Mark Jacobson's voice, he seems like the kind of person I would enjoy having a conversation with if I met him. So even the pieces about subjects that didn't much interest me were still highly readable.

[Craven · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a collection of Jacobson's journalism and creative writing this book is really good. He writes about everything in here from sports to 9/11. I found this book by an accident when I was trying to find stuff on dumpster-diver, Yippie, Bob Dylan-stalking wackjob A.J Weberman at the library. However, I found Jacobson's writing style interesting and added it to my booklist. I just got around to reading it and liked it a lot. His writing style is engaging enough that I found even his bio-piece on Julius Erving to be interesting and I despise sports. He writes about everything from the Dali Lama to the columbine shooting. He particularly shines when writing about stories on people while following them around. The best pieces that come to mind are those he wrote about 9/11 and the big time heroin dealer from the seventies that the movie American Gangster was about. His name escapes me, but that was some great journalism. Just like the rest of the stuff in here, I found it engaging from cover to cover, in spite of the subject matter.

[Oriana]

I'm kind of in love with Mark Jacobson all of a sudden. He wrote two killer NY Mag feature stories recently, "Haunts," about all the many different Brooklyns, and "The Land that Time and Money Forgot," an exhaustive history of the politics and culture behind the NYC housing projects, which are (I learned) by far the largest in the country. Penetrating, fascinating work. Plus he's a longtime contributor to the Village Voice, plus he obviously loves New York just about as much as I do. Plus this is by Grove/Black Cat, which has put out lots of great things I can't think of at the moment. Plus zomg look at him on the cover! What's not to love?

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a really silly title, but there are some good articles in it. My favorite is about the golden age of NYC cabbies and was the inspiration for the TV show "Taxi".

[michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pop culture history at its exciting and innocent best!