Better Books / Better Bookz
Art, Anarchy, Apostasy: Counter-Culture & the New Avant-Garde Published by Walther König, Köln.
Edited by Rozemin Keshvani, Axel Heil, Peter Weibel. Text by Rozemin Keshvani, Barry Miles. Contributions by Stephen Dwoskin, John Hopkins, Graham Keen, Bruce Lacey, Gustav Metzger, Jeff Nuttall, Frank Popper, Criton Tomazos, Islwyn Watkins. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the legendary independent London bookstore Better Books, located on the Charing Cross Road, was the hub for Britain’s counterculture, with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Alexander Trocchi, John Latham, Jeff Nuttall, Bob Cobbing, Barry Miles and Gustav Metzger regularly giving readings and performances or exhibiting their works. Countless other writers and artists got their start there by encountering the books, authors or artists that would determine their vocations and change their lives. With its unique range of small-press/underground literature, poetry readings, film screenings and happenings, Better Books was the hub of London’s 1960s counterculture scene. This book is the first to examine this special historic moment. Gathering archival documents, previously unpublished texts and photographs with the voices of the protagonists who launched this revolution, this volume provides a secret history of the real London counterculture.
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