If you think the Spice Girls invented Girl Power, Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl (HarperPerennial, $14.99) will set the record straight. New York journalist Sara Marcus begins her account as a lonely teen attending Riot Grrrl meetings in D.C., where discussion topics ranged from favorite tampon brands to sexual abuse. She then launches into a lively timeline of the tough-girl movement, which she neatly fits into the overall history of feminism. Marcus depicts the rise of Olympia punk bands like Bikini Kill and the aggregation of girl gangs (including a pre-Sleater Kinney Corin Tucker) shoving their way back into the testosteroned mosh pits. They were mustering for battle against the idea that to be a girl was to be in grave danger that you could never fully escape, Marcus writes. Tonight, shell read after local violinist L. Alex Guy and her band, Led to Sea, perform. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Mon., Oct. 11, 5 p.m., 2010
