Icons of Dissent

Reviewed by: Chiara Isabella Spadea Khan – The One Institute, UK

Published by: London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd, 2019, 325pp. ISBN: 978-1849046657 (Hardback).

Jeremy Prestholdt presents a thoroughly engaging discourse on transnational factors and historical exigencies that define icons and the universal appreciation of the message they represent. An icon of dissent is defined as a figure that challenges the socioeconomic norms of his or her time and so attracts audiences beyond his or her nation of origin. The Icons of Dissent chosen to illustrate the author’s new ideas and reflections on this subject are not individuals often discussed, thus piquing the readers interest immediately. Prestholdt does well to seam together the values behind the iconic statuses attributed to Che Guevarra, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, and Osama Bin Ladin. He argues with some aplomb the impact of new and developing media technology on cementing their prominence through a thoroughly organised narrative that cites evidence for its claims from both the West and global South.