Rating: 
Summary: Dance of Myopia
Review: Ok, strap on your rose colored, politically tinged, pseudo shining path blinders and delve into the slanted, branded, censored, ivory towered, ignored, unexplored, head-in-the-sand view of "punk" in the nation's capital. Two decades? They got that wrong- should have been "Two Pinhead Views of Punk..."Anyway, these guys certainly weren't playing the clubs and hanging out with the bands to really know what went down, and what was said, as Ian MacKaye has expressed. As obvious groupies with a few favorite bands, they've left out such a sizable chunk of history- either because they didn't know, or (heh, heh) they couldn't care less, or both- that one cannot take too seriously this "history" of sorts. They've unearthed too few bones and voices to give credence to such a lofty book title. At best it's a molecular thin slice of some of what was going on, thus failing the admirable goals actually educating readers. For raw objectivisim, this book gets a zero. There are some nice pics and for what they do write about- sans the strained politburo commentary, public policy side-bars, and soap operatic narrative- some of the content is interesting, but way too serious for it's britches. C'mon this is punk history, not Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind. Now, how about a challenge? For Volume 2, maybe they could dig deep, pull up their pants, roll up their sleeves, get out their trowels and do the hard, sweaty work of an objective historical chronicle which will truly enlighten and educate readers. Hint: Haggle for it at the yard sale.
Rating: 
Summary: Expertly examines the music, the influential artists & more
Review: The collaborative effort of Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins, Dance Of Days: Two Decades Of Punk In The Nation's Capital is an engaging and informative survey of the Washington DC's punk scene over the past twenty years. The authors expertly examine the music, the influential artists and entertainers, the grassroots rock revolution that had a lasting effect on mainstream culture, and more. Black-and-white photographs nicely enhanced the "reader friendly", down-to-earth writing style in this insightful "window" into popular American culture and modern American music history.
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: This book is not very well written, but it gives a very intresting view into the Washington D.C. punk scene. Mark Anderson, a former suicidal for whom the Sex Pistols and punk in general saved his life, knows what hes talking about. From the first punk show at a heavy metal club, a band called Overkill, to the Slickee Boys and Urban Verbs, to the Cramps Hall of Nations show, which inspired many punk there to get into it (including Ian McKaye and Henry Garfield who you know as Henry Rollins), to the Bad Brains and PMA, to the foundations of harDCore, beginning with Teen Idles and the Untouchables and expanding into one of the best bands ever, Minor Threat, and going into the 90s, with Nirvana, which actually has DC connections, to the punk civil war between sellouts and true underground punks. If you like punk, buy this. It will transform you from simply listening to punk music and into being a true punk, who lives out the true punk lifestyle. A must read. Has been compared with Jon Savage's England Dreaming.
Rating:
Summary: Brings Back Memories of My Own Experiences
Review: This book really brought back fond memories for me as well as providing insight into the inception of the music scene that inspired me to take up the drums and play with a hardcore band through my high-school years. Although I'm not from the DC area, The scene that I grew up in outside Philadelphia was heavily influenced by bands such as Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Ignition, Fugazi, Embrace, Jawbox, Shudder to Think etc... It warms my heart to see my favorite bands of all time and the political and social ideas that went hand in hand with the music being given the same kind of reverence as the bands that changed the world for my parents in the 60's. Thanks to Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins for such a fantastic book!
Rating:
Summary: A pretty truthful recap of the scene then
Review: This book really portrays what was going on in those days. I loved reading about what went on with the bands at that time. I saw many of the shows mentioned, and the writing about them is true. The shows then were incredible.
Rating: 
Summary: History of D.C. Punk is not over.
Review: This is what Ian Mackaye of Fugazi had to say about this book when asked by Slug magazine if he had read this book.
"IAN: I have not read it. I don't read books about myself. I was there, and I know what happened. They [the people that wrote the book] were not there. They're my friends. I know they had a big job ahead of them, but they were not there, so they couldn't possibly know what really happened. It would be depressing to read my own history and not have it be accurate. It's just weird. I just avoid those things. Another thing is that they are history books, and history is about what has been done. I am not done. I am doing. I'm not there yet. I've got too much work to do."
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