This account of post-war British youth cultures, combines history, theory and debate. It covers the period from the 1940s, as youth became a spectacle, simultaneously with the rise of consumer culture, splintering into counter-cultural and more mainstream groups. It also addresses the place of women and immigrant cultures in the formation of youth cultures, from the Soho mods to the New Age travellers, via skinheads, ravers, punks and soulboys.