From the Swinging 60s and the mods, from the seventies and the punks to Generation E, Britpop and Cool Britain--the past 50 years have seen a steady stream of world-sweeping movements, trends, and styles come out of the British Isles.

In this hip, fast-paced look at who's who and what's what of British popular culture, cultist Andrew Calcutt explores more than 200 key people, products, and phenomena in British popular culture. Calcutt deftly deconstructs hundreds of Brit Cult icons--such as Monty Python, J. G. Ballard, Nick Hornby, Martin Amis, Doc Martens, E-Type Jaguars, glam, and goth, Malcolm McClaren, Blur, Oasis, The Kinks, The Who, and the Stones--and identifies who or what they are, what they represent to us, and what they have, in turn, inspired.

Each entry is a brief, stand-alone essay providing biographical details, analysis, observation, and opinion; but, taken together, the essays add up to a revealing portrait of the good (The Beatles), the bad (racist skinheads) and the ugly (football hooligans) of British pop culture in all its many facets.