Cultural Studies. Hal Niedzviecki has a blunt message for the army of tattoo and piercing enthusiasts, bloggers, skateboard warriors, and anyone else walking around with the smug certainty that they are one of a kind: Individuality is the new conformity. These meditations touch on everything from designer religions to webcasts, from reality TV to the endless "everybody is a star" platitudes of global pop culture. The result is a smart, witty, and impassioned argument that shatters the you-can-do-anything pop myth and exposes the paradox of individualism.

Author City: Toronto, ON CAN

Hal Niedzviecki is the founder of Broken Pencil magazine and has published numerous works of social commentary, including THE PEEP DIARIES: HOW WE'RE LEARNING TO LOVE WATCHING OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS, HELLO, I'M SPECIAL: HOW INDIVIDUALITY BECAME THE NEW CONFORMITY, and We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture. He has also published various works of fiction, including the novels LURVY: A FARMER'S ALMANAC and The Program, and the story collections SMELL IT and LOOK DOWN, THIS IS WHERE IT MUST HAVE HAPPENED.

Reviews and Other Links
author site