Originally published in 1964, Dada: Art and Anti-Art is a personal history by artist and filmmaker, Hans Richter -- a participant in the original 1916 Zurich dada scene. Thus we get a direct eyewitness account of one of the 20th century's more perplexing and insidiously influential art movements. Beginning with Zurich, Richter goes on to cover the following (and parallel) action in New York, Berlin, Hanover, Cologne and Paris (where it was ultimately cannibalized by the red-headed stepchild, surrealism). A brief look at dada's descendants in the 1960s follows. It's a solid account, beefed up with the human details that you won't get from a far-removed critic or historian. There's also plenty of samples of dada art and graphics, as well as photos of the artists, poets and hell-raisers who made it happen. I first read this book when I checked it out of the school library (several times) through 1976 and '77. It had a big impact on me, and it's good to finally latch onto a new copy of my own. Even for a dumb kid, the connection with the then-emerging punk rock was obvious, right down to the graphic styles. Reading it now, it's almost like reading the punk memoirs and histories that have been hitting the shelves over the last decade. There are so many similarities -- the scenes in the different cities hooking up via mail and 'zines (okay, I'm sure they didn't call them 'zines back in the 19-teens, but they sure look like punk 'zines to me, chaotic typography and all), the friendships and rivalries, the roughly designed handbills and posters promoting their DIY events, the piss-off-the-masses provocations... dada did it all first. They just didn't have the electric guitars.