It would have been easy for Givony to appeal to millennial nostalgia with simple reflections on more popular musicians, but, as he notes, "the Brooklyn scene was overwhelmingly white, male, and privileged, at every level." Instead, he writes about the underdogs of the time, many of them women and people of color--which makes for an inclusive and eye-opening read.

Givony captures the era's energy in vibrant prose. The result is an effusive and intimate ode to a heady period of music history.

Us v. Them proves that New York City's nightlife and music scenes never truly die; each new generation redraws the city's landscape in their own image. You may have never heard of some of these bands or artists or clubs--some are overlooked or unsung--[while] others had a brief moment in the sun before burning out. But for the people who were there, these moments were as formative as punk rock and CBGB in the '70s or the 1950s Greenwich Village jazz scene.

With Us v. Them, Ronen Givony pulls off an extraordinary feat: a work of nostalgia untainted by self-indulgence, absolution, or cheese. Givony gives us not just a meticulously researched history of Brooklyn indie rock's flaws and triumphs, but a riveting insider's perspective, too. Required reading for anyone who wants to learn how the era came together, or how it fell apart.