Sober Living for the Revolution by Gabriel Kuhn

Sober Living for the Revolution by Gabriel Kuhn

Straight edge has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore punk subculture for 25 years. Its political legacy, however, remains ambiguous--often associated with self-righteous macho posturing and conservative puritanism. While certain elements of straight edge culture feed into such perceptions, the movement's political history is far more complex.

Since straight edge's origins in Washington, DC, in the early 1980s, it has been linked to radical thought and action by countless individuals, bands, and entire scenes worldwide. Sober Living for the Revolution traces this history.

It includes contributions--in the form of in-depth interviews, essays, and manifestos--by numerous artists and activists connected to straight edge, from Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) and Mark Andersen (Dance of Days/Positive Force DC) to Dennis Lyxzén (Refused/The (International) Noise Conspiracy) and Andy Hurley (Racetraitor/Fall Out Boy), from bands such as ManLiftingBanner and Point of No Return to feminist and queer initiatives, from radical collectives like CrimethInc. and Alpine Anarchist Productions to the Emancypunx project and many others dedicated as much to sober living as to the fight for a better world.

Gabriel Kuhn (born in Innsbruck, Austria, 1972) lives as an independent author and translator in Stockholm, Sweden. He received a PhD in philosophy from the University of Innsbruck in 1996. His publications in German include the award-winning 'Neuer Anarchismus' in den USA: Seattle und die Folgen (2008). His other publications with PM Press include Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety: Forging a Militant Working-Class Culture: Selected Writings by Julius Deutsch(editor/translator, 2017), Playing as if the World Mattered: An Illustrated History of Activism in Sports (2015), Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics (editor, 2010), Revolution and Other Writings: A Political Reader (Gustav Landauer) (editor/translator, 2010), and Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics (2nd ed., 2018).