While most attention has been paid to the phenomenal archive of images in the book, the essays contained offer an incredible snapshot of the birth of the movement and its lasting legacy. The Reader collects all of these insightful pieces together with those contained in its follow up book, Punk is Dead, Punk is Everything in one tome. Writers include Brendan Mullen, Jello Biafra, Pushead, Mike Watt, Lorna Doom, Tony Alva, and many more alongside interviews with punk pioneers Ian Mackaye and Malcolm McLaren.