The Rise of RealLife Superheroes, Peter Nowak
The Rise of RealLife Superheroes, Peter Nowak
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The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes
And the Fall of Everything Else

Author: Peter Nowak

Narrator: Peter Nowak

Unabridged: 6 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/29/2020

Synopsis

Meanwhile, back in the darkened alleys of a city near you . . . trouble is brewing. A fight breaks out. A mugger shakes down an innocent tourist. Inequality is on the rise.

Enter our heroes. Dark Guardian chases off an angry drug dealer in Manhattan. Mr. Xtreme charges in and breaks up a San Diego bar brawl. T. O. Ronin hugs a homeless man on the snowy streets of Toronto. These aren't the big-screen or comic-book heroes that have been increasingly dominating pop culture. They're real-life superheroes: individuals who take on masked personae to fight crime and help the helpless. They don't have superpowers, but they do try to make the world a better place.

Lifelong comic-book fan and veteran journalist Peter Nowak goes to the source of this phenomenon, meeting with real-life superheroes in North America and around the world to get their stories and investigate what the movement means for the future of society. To some people, real-life superheroes may seem like quirky outliers or dangerous vigilantes but, as Nowak shows, they are also archetypes whose job is to remind us of the better part of human nature.

About Peter Nowak

Peter Nowak is a journalist and author with more than twenty years of experience working at top media outlets, specializing in technology, pop culture, and social issues. He's worked as a staff reporter and editor at the Globe and Mail, National Post, and the CBC, as well as the New Zealand Herald. Nowak's first book, Sex, Bombs, and Burgers: How War, Porn, and Fast Food Have Shaped Modern Technology, spent several weeks on the Maclean's bestseller list. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tea

When I first heard about this book, I was a bit like "well, been there, done that," as I wrote a book about Real-Life Superheroes in 2013 titled Heroes in the Night. I'm glad I read the book-- Nowak does a first rate job telling this story. There's some familiar names and history to those who know R......more

Goodreads review by Paul

Many children when they grow up are inspired by superheroes that they have viewed in comic books. How many children over the decades have not wanted to be just like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wonder Woman to name a few? In the book THE RISE OF REAL LIFE SUPERHEROES, Peter Mow......more

Goodreads review by Mark

This book gives the reader an in depth look into an interesting phenomenon/sub-culture. It does not follow the same template of other books that tackle the same topic of real life superheroes. This one goes a bit deeper into the motivations behind what drives people to take this approach to helping......more

Goodreads review by Ethan Blatt

Peter does an amazing job of exploring a subculture most of us have never heard of and will never know. This book explores the unique and storied history of vigilantes and documents the evolution and modern incarnation of the Real Life Superhero subculture. It tells the history of comic books, groups......more

Goodreads review by The

I was not prepared for how good this book is! I've read quite a few books on Real-Life Superheroes and they basically touch on the same stuff. Costumes, deeds, locations. But this book gets to the serious questions like, "Why is Gamora?". It was a fun, educational, and reflective journey seeing tha......more

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