Zine History!

Zines have actually been around since the invention of the printing press. One of the most famous zinesters in history is Thomas Paine, whose famous pamphlet Common Sense helped spark the American Revolution. Zines became more common in the 1930s when fans of science-fiction radio dramas made them to talk about their favorite shows and what it meant to be a fan. The meaning of zines changed once again in the 1970s when they were adopted by the emerging punk movement. It was with this movement that zines began to take on the photocopied format that most follow today. Since that time, they have become part of a number of political movements including the riot grrl movement of the early 1990s.

These days, zines still often hold a political context, but they also have become a part of the DIY, or Do-It-Yourself, movement. People are now using zines to independently publish works of fiction, their diaries, and just about anything else.