Book one of John Shirley's pre-holocaust series, A Song Called Youth. The Russians didn't use the big nukes. The ongoing Third World War leaves parts of Europe in ruins. Into the chaos steps the Second Alliance, a multinational eager to impose its own kind of New World Order. In the United States ... in FirStep, the vast space colony ... and on the artificial island Freezone -- the SA shoulders its way to power, spinning a dark web of media manipulation, propaganda, and infiltration. Only the New Resistance recognizes the SA for what it really is: a racist theocracy hiding a cult of eugenics. Enter Rick Rickenharp, a former rock'n'roll cult hero: a rock classicist -- out of place in Europe's underground club scene, populated by "wiredancers" and "minimonos" ... but destined to play a Song Called Youth that will shake the world.