This lively collection presents a multi-disciplinary, multi-perspectival commentary explaining the what, where, and how of the riots that the UK experienced during the long, hot summer of 2011. Locating the riots in historical context by comparing them to the UK riots of 1981 and 2001, it looks at how news cycles and concepts of 'moral panic' have changed in the age of social media. It is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary debates in social policy, media studies, anthropology sociology, cultural studies and human geography. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal for Cultural Research.