Award-winning poet Pete "the Temp” Bearder presents the unwritten history, science and skill of spoken word. Stage Invasion answers some strangely unaddressed questions: How was the live art of spoken verse kicked out of the Kingdom of Poetry? What is the history of the art form? How does emotional contagion happen in live performance? What has spoken word got to do with hypnotism and ecstatic states? This groundbreaking book explores a thriving ecology of artistry, and how it can serve us for cultural, social and political renewal.