Shock Value is John Waters at full volume. A gleeful, unapologetic manifesto from the pope of trash himself. Part memoir, part cultural cocktail, this book traces how a Baltimore misfit armed with bad taste, big ideas, and zero respect for good manners detonated his way into the American underground. Waters writes how he films: sharp, funny, obscene, and strangely sincere. Less a straight autobiography than a guided tour of a sensibility, Shock Value maps the obsessions, influences, and provocations that shaped Waters’ world. From his upbringing in Baltimore, to his friendship with muse and leading lady, Divine, and his eventual cult ascension, it’s an origin story told through trash, culture, attitude and a love of the wrong things.