It started with punk. Hip-hop, rave, graffiti, and gaming took it to another level, and now modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly global at the same time.

In "The Pirate's Dilemma," "VICE" magazine's Matt Mason -- poised to become the Malcolm Gladwell of the iPod Generation -- brings the exuberance of a passionate music fan and the technological savvy of an IT wizard to the task of sorting through the changes brought about by the interface of pop culture and innovation. He charts the rise of various youth movements -- from pirate radio to remix culture -- and tracks their ripple effect throughout larger society. Mason brings a passion and a breadth of intelligence to questions such as the following: How did a male model who messed with disco records in the 1970s influence the way Boeing designs airplanes? Who was the nun who invented dance music, and how is her influence undermining capitalism as we know it? Did three high school kids who remixed Nazis into Smurfs in the 1980s change the future of the video game industry? Can hip-hop really bring about world peace? Each chapter crystallizes the idea behind one of these fringe movements and shows how it combined with technology to subvert old hierarchies and empower the individual.

With great wit and insight -- and a cast of characters that includes such icons as the Ramones, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Russell Simmons, and 50 Cent -- Mason uncovers the trends that have transformed countercultural scenes into burgeoning global industries and movements, ultimately changing our way of life.

Magic is what poetry is about. Magic can and does happen on the page, but the connection slams allow between poet and audience is both larger and more personal than the printed word. And it's reassuring, in a new century and millennium, to see that most ancient of the literary arts, poetry, return to its oral roots. When it comes to slams, poetry is the winner.

- from the essay "Downtown Slam" by JV Brummels

"Slamma Lamma Ding Dong" is the combined effort of 35 of Nebraska's slam poets. Appealing to fans of both the written and spoken word, it gives voice to the rich culture, the wild imagination, and the diverse spirit of the plains.

I Have A Poem The Size Of The Moon is a book of poems about Nebraska. Not cornfields, not cows: cities, highways, long drives and the political conversations simmering. 'Between Meteors and Fireflies In a drought year, corn stubble bends into Headlines: 'Farmers pray for rain.' Tumbleweeds take time to harmonize and choreograph, somewhere between meteors and fireflies. The grocery sells blueberries all year round, but the charge card feels heavy as a refrigerator once you slip it from the wallet. You don't end up buying the magazines, just browse. It's a tow truck, doorbell button, garbage disposal broke summer: no real difference between a silo and a paper sack, it seems. And in the hallway, light glows from under the bathroom door..'

"The Baby That Ate Cincinnati" is a collection of poems about parenthood. And horror movies. It's about that other side of things, the bit with the wonder and the magic as well as the terror of trying to redefine yourself and your place in the universe with what is really a very strange and monumental change in who you are, what you do, and what you truly fear. Ultimately, you know, it's life affirming, just like all classic scary movies, by the time the credits roll.

"Whether turning his attention to kiwifruit, "Wild Kingdom's" Marlin Perkins, the Strategic Air Command Museum, or lovers who with luck may come to resemble a no-expiration-date snack cake, Mason sheds some of his Nebraskan light on our universally human proceedings." --David Clewell, author of "Now We're Getting Somewhere."