The writing is on the wall. Not many read it. Fewer try and understand it. But when you do it tells an important story. Important because it makes what is usually seen as 'senseless and mindless' meaningful. Important because it tells us something different about society's favourite folk devil - the adolescent male. And important because it stops people judging the book by its cover. This is a book about graffiti, but it is really a story about the (male) young and the nameless and their search for respect, status and masculine identity at a time in life when this is often hard to find. Using insights from ethnographic research with illegal graffiti writers in London and New York, this book provides essential reading for anyone interested in new understandings of youth and their subcultures.