Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-386) and index.

In the beginning there was rhythm: slavery, minstrelsy and the blues -- The O.G.'s: Emerson, Thoreau, Melville and Whitman -- My black/white roots: Jazz, the lost Generation and the Harlem Renaissance -- Would a hipster hit a lady? Pulp fiction, film noir and gangsta rap -- The golden age of hip, part 1: Bebop, cool jazz and the cold war -- The golden age of hip, part 2: The beats -- The tricksters: signifying monkeys and other hip engines of progress -- Hip has three fingers: the miseducation of Bugs Bunny -- The world is a ghetto: Blacks, Jews, and blues -- Criminally hip: Outlaws, gangsters, players, hustlers -- Where the ladies at? Revel girls, riot grrrls and the revenge on the mother -- Behind the music: the drug connection -- "It's like punk rock, but a car": Hip sells out -- Do geeks dream of HTML sheep? A digressive journey through digital hip -- Everybody's hip: superficial reflections on the white caucasian.

A comprehensive look at American pop culture from 1619, when slaves first arrived in America, to the present day.