The work of graphic artist Eric Drooker, compiled in Street Posters & Ballads, has appeared in places as diverse as World War 3 Illustrated, The New Yorker, and the cover of a Faith No More album. Drooker's art comes from a specific place, Manhattan's Lower East Side, and from a specific political standpoint: that gentrification, greedy landlords, and a compliant city government are ruining the one-time bastion of artists and immigrants. Following a concise introductory history of the region, this collection of protest art and songs illustrates the situation in a way Drooker's prose cannot: His simple, cartoon- and woodcut-inspired style effectively captures the compelling drama of the scenarios he portrays. Drooker's highly evocative illustrations might look like little more than propaganda were it not for their undeniable humanity. A former Allen Ginsberg collaborator, Drooker pairs many of his drawings with poems and songs, and though most wouldn't stand on their own, they serve as suitable accompaniment, clarifying the artist's political stance and achieving his art's muscular directness. Much of Street Posters & Ballads' content was meant to serve an immediate, informative, on-the-street purpose, but collected here, it serves as an effective history of New York Leftist resistance, as well as a striking look at a striking artist.