Anyone interested in the NYC rock'n'roll scene of the 1960's-'70's should get this book. Warhol's Superstars, the Velvets, Nico, Patti Smith, and so many more all have their place in here! Mickey Ruskin, the owner of Max's, pretty much kept alive 99% of the cities "starving artists" during those times! A lot of popular musicians got their start at Max's, from Bruce Springsteen to Debbie Harry (a former Max's waitress!). If you want to learn more about the "back room" at Max's and all the characters who hung out there, get this book! Lots of entertaining anecdotes from so many different scenesters! Most of these people lived on the edge! Other books I would recommend are "Man Enough To Be a Woman" by Jayne County and "Rebel Heart" by Bebe Buell (they were regulars at Max's as well)!!!

I first read "Please Kill Me" and developed a fascination for this era of American social history. This book describes, through stories and pictures, the various stages of Max's and all the celebrity goings on. Very entertaining, also a high quality edition, of a period of decadence.

This book was great, excellent pictures and a great tell all of the time. Nothing was held back from this oral history, very detailed and fun. Yvonne Ruskin did a great job, I felt like I knew these people and since I have never been to Max's and now that it is gone it was alot of fun to see what it was like and sad at the same time because I wish I could of been there.

Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin's "High on Rebellion" is a wonderful recreation of Max's era (1965 thru 1981). Filled with hundreds of photographs (by Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Billy Name and others) and hundreds of interview quotes, reading it is like a multimedia experience - as exciting as a night in Max's infamous backroom! For those of us lucky enough to have been there, it is a trip back to the center of the maelstrom... Max's was New York's high energy intersection of the art and music world, where up and coming young ones could brush elbows with Warhol, Patti Smith, Bowie, the NY Dolls, et al. Beautifully designed, this book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the artists, musicians and popular culture of the late sixties and the 1970's. It really is shocking to realize how many young talents succumbed to the excesses of that time, still the book created in me a longing to go back there again! Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Yvonne!