A review by graveyardpansy
Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus

4.0

i didn’t wanna get my hopes up about this book but it was really enjoyable!! felt personal but not overly so, didn’t shy away from conflict but didn’t glorify it, and even though it’s been out for a while nothing feels outdated in an offensive way. my only complaints are i do wish it interacted more with queercore, bc it and riot grrrl had a lot more overlaps than i feel were present in this history. sometimes the politics were a little lackluster for my tastes, but that’s on the author rather than the movement; and there were many points where genuinely insightful political points /were/ made. finally i wish it had footnotes instead of endnotes, but that’s personal preference. solid 4 stars, would happily recommend to people that are clueless about riot grrrl.

my other important (imo) critique is that nothing should be considered a “definitive” or tell-all about counterculture movements, and this definitely attempts that. but that could also definitely be up to the editors.