It's globalised culture - but not as we know it. Fuelled by curiosity and wanderlust, reporter Doug Hendrie travels to the edges of our world to find the most unexpected - and bizarre - examples of cultural mash-ups, from the StarCraft videogame superstars of South Korea to the Clash-loving punks of Indonesia. The world is becoming multipolar, multicultural and mono-cultural all at the same time. Flows of culture are intensifying - not just from West to the rest, but in all directions. What effect does the rush of culture and information via the internet, never-before-seen, mean for our times? And what does it mean for the lives of people in societies where globalisation has taken over? An accessible, funny and intelligent blend of travel writing, sub cultural reportage, and pop anthropology, AmalgaNations is one man's mission to discover whether Western culture has steamrolled the world, or whether, in fact, the flow of influence works both ways in the age of Globalisation. ‘We're used to carting our travel discoveries home, but as Doug Hendrie proves it's a two-way trade. Particularly when high tech, sex and style make the most unexpected converts. ' - Tony Wheeler ‘Travelling isn't just about where you go but what you do when you get there: where you look, what you see, who you meet and the questions you ask. Hendrie gets all this right and more in a book which doesn't just take us places but into what feels like the future - afuture that is here, now. ' - Sophie Cunningham‘Hendrie challenges stereotypes, celebrates differences and shows that, at base, what makes us all human is our ability to creatively adapt to and engage with our increasingly interconnected world. ' - Damien Kingsbury ‘Doug Hendrie's personal and insightful account of the connections between the West and other cultures exposes hidden truths about our global village. ' - Jacqueline Kent ‘From Ghana's sorcery, scams and soft-porn film industry to gay power in the Philippines ... Welcome to Doug Hendrie's world tour of rebirthed cultures. ' - Christopher Kremmer