0
    • Close Modal
    0 0
    Download high-resolution image

    It Starts with Anger

    A Punk Beginning. An AFROPUNK Ending.

    Author James Spooner
    Hardcover
    $32.00 US
    Knopf | Pantheon
    7"W x 9"H | 35 oz | 12 per carton
    On sale Aug 04, 2026 | 384 Pages | 9780593701386
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    From the award-winning filmmaker and graphic novelist, comes the untold origin story of the multi-million-dollar AFROPUNK festival—beginning not with big stages or brand sponsorship, but with one mixed-race teenager’s search for belonging in the nineties New York City punk scene.

    In 1991, fifteen-year-old James Spooner arrives in New York’s West Village, hopeful that he’s finally escaped the extremist racism of his Southern California desert town. Still, a question looms large over his cross-country move: What will New York City make of this tartan plaid-and-leather-clad, mixed race, Black kid with a mohawk? Will he find his people? Thus begins Spooner’s insider’s account of the nineties downtown New York punk and early aughts pre-Giuliani nightlife scenes. In the city’s legendary rock clubs, squat basements, and DIY art spaces, he finds his way to creating zines, starting a record label, and promoting parties, while falling further in love with punk rock’s distorted guitars and politically progressive lyrics. Happy to have left a world of Nazi skins behind he must still navigate the casual racism and bigotry of a seemingly all-white echo chamber; a world stubbornly resistant to his Black/punk identity.

    Intent on carving a space for young, Black, politically radical punk rockers like himself, Spooner undertakes a whirlwind tour of the country, collecting the stories that will become his acclaimed documentary, Afro-Punk, and eventually lead to the wildly successful music festival of the same name. But what begins as a way to chronicle the joys and heartaches of being Black and punk rock soon spirals into a multimillion-dollar corporate endeavor. Spooner is forced to ask himself: In setting out to galvanize an underground movement, has he in fact given rise to the least punk rock thing of all—a brand?

    Illustrated with a vibrant mix of comics, spot art, and punk ephemera throughout, It Starts with Anger is at once a coming-of-age story about found family, a compelling capitalist cautionary tale, and a raucous celebration of the indelible, rebellious spirit of Black punks.
    “James Spooner lays out a moving story of self-discovery, actualization, and preservation. Set against the backdrop of various evolving punk scenes, we learn about his experiences as a multiracial, first-generation immigrant punk and get to see how they led him to create a documentary that spawned a scene and altered both punk and Black culture dramatically. James is a great storyteller and this is a fantastic read, plus it’s got his comics in it—always a boss move. I was there, this sh*t is real!”—Tunde Adebimpe, TV on the Radio

    “James Spooner has created a memoir that belongs in the canon of punk history. This is a story told from the inside, by an extremely like-able, awkward punk rocker who believes music can be a true site of resistance and does the work to make it happen. The road is rocky, but that’s what makes it such a thrilling read.”—Kathleen Hanna, author of Rebel Girl

    “In a moment when the societal obsession with cloudy nostalgia can sometimes swallow the concrete facts of history and erase the people who made it, It Starts with Anger is a vital book, one that should live in the archives as both a corrective to misunderstood history, and a manifesto for a path forward, for a world that could still exist for those looking to find it.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

    “More than a movie or a festival, the idea of Afro-Punk felt so true that it was as if it had always been around. And as he did with his film, Spooner writes here about his love and struggle for punk in a way we can all instantly see ourselves in. Black punks to the front!”—Ben Passmore, author of Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance

    “A mosh pit of a book that punches and slams against the realities of growing up Black and punk in America. This earnest, revealing, and vulnerable memoir leaps headlong off the page as Spooner courageously shares the challenges, triumphs, and failures that he experienced looking for a place in the scene. His chorus echoes the existential questions of punk, questions that underpin all our humanity: Who am I? Where do I fit in? Who are my people? What happens when I grow up?”—Phuc Tran, author of Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In

    “James Spooner has a gift for dissecting the small moments of enlightenment that lead to a life spent in punk and hardcore, and how it forever rewires the way your brain sees the world.” —Dan Ozzi, author of Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore
    © Lisa Nola
    James Spooner is an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. Director of the seminal documentary Afro-Punk and co-founder of the AFROPUNK Festival, he is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel The High Desert, co-editor of the anthology Black Punk Now, and an ongoing guest curator for museums and libraries across the country. View titles by James Spooner

    About

    From the award-winning filmmaker and graphic novelist, comes the untold origin story of the multi-million-dollar AFROPUNK festival—beginning not with big stages or brand sponsorship, but with one mixed-race teenager’s search for belonging in the nineties New York City punk scene.

    In 1991, fifteen-year-old James Spooner arrives in New York’s West Village, hopeful that he’s finally escaped the extremist racism of his Southern California desert town. Still, a question looms large over his cross-country move: What will New York City make of this tartan plaid-and-leather-clad, mixed race, Black kid with a mohawk? Will he find his people? Thus begins Spooner’s insider’s account of the nineties downtown New York punk and early aughts pre-Giuliani nightlife scenes. In the city’s legendary rock clubs, squat basements, and DIY art spaces, he finds his way to creating zines, starting a record label, and promoting parties, while falling further in love with punk rock’s distorted guitars and politically progressive lyrics. Happy to have left a world of Nazi skins behind he must still navigate the casual racism and bigotry of a seemingly all-white echo chamber; a world stubbornly resistant to his Black/punk identity.

    Intent on carving a space for young, Black, politically radical punk rockers like himself, Spooner undertakes a whirlwind tour of the country, collecting the stories that will become his acclaimed documentary, Afro-Punk, and eventually lead to the wildly successful music festival of the same name. But what begins as a way to chronicle the joys and heartaches of being Black and punk rock soon spirals into a multimillion-dollar corporate endeavor. Spooner is forced to ask himself: In setting out to galvanize an underground movement, has he in fact given rise to the least punk rock thing of all—a brand?

    Illustrated with a vibrant mix of comics, spot art, and punk ephemera throughout, It Starts with Anger is at once a coming-of-age story about found family, a compelling capitalist cautionary tale, and a raucous celebration of the indelible, rebellious spirit of Black punks.

    Praise

    “James Spooner lays out a moving story of self-discovery, actualization, and preservation. Set against the backdrop of various evolving punk scenes, we learn about his experiences as a multiracial, first-generation immigrant punk and get to see how they led him to create a documentary that spawned a scene and altered both punk and Black culture dramatically. James is a great storyteller and this is a fantastic read, plus it’s got his comics in it—always a boss move. I was there, this sh*t is real!”—Tunde Adebimpe, TV on the Radio

    “James Spooner has created a memoir that belongs in the canon of punk history. This is a story told from the inside, by an extremely like-able, awkward punk rocker who believes music can be a true site of resistance and does the work to make it happen. The road is rocky, but that’s what makes it such a thrilling read.”—Kathleen Hanna, author of Rebel Girl

    “In a moment when the societal obsession with cloudy nostalgia can sometimes swallow the concrete facts of history and erase the people who made it, It Starts with Anger is a vital book, one that should live in the archives as both a corrective to misunderstood history, and a manifesto for a path forward, for a world that could still exist for those looking to find it.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

    “More than a movie or a festival, the idea of Afro-Punk felt so true that it was as if it had always been around. And as he did with his film, Spooner writes here about his love and struggle for punk in a way we can all instantly see ourselves in. Black punks to the front!”—Ben Passmore, author of Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance

    “A mosh pit of a book that punches and slams against the realities of growing up Black and punk in America. This earnest, revealing, and vulnerable memoir leaps headlong off the page as Spooner courageously shares the challenges, triumphs, and failures that he experienced looking for a place in the scene. His chorus echoes the existential questions of punk, questions that underpin all our humanity: Who am I? Where do I fit in? Who are my people? What happens when I grow up?”—Phuc Tran, author of Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In

    “James Spooner has a gift for dissecting the small moments of enlightenment that lead to a life spent in punk and hardcore, and how it forever rewires the way your brain sees the world.” —Dan Ozzi, author of Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore

    Author

    © Lisa Nola
    James Spooner is an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. Director of the seminal documentary Afro-Punk and co-founder of the AFROPUNK Festival, he is the author and illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel The High Desert, co-editor of the anthology Black Punk Now, and an ongoing guest curator for museums and libraries across the country. View titles by James Spooner

    Penguin Random House Retail

    © 2026 Penguin Random House

    Back to Top
    0
    Wish List (0)