Biography: arts and entertainment Books
Akashic Books,U.S. We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last
Book SynopsisAn impassioned history of the final, turbulent years of The Clash under the dark shadow of Reagan and Thatcher.
£17.06
Feral House,U.S. The Mudd Club
Book SynopsisNYC's notorious Mudd Club where art and music intersect with sex, drugs and the slumming glittering elite.
£24.79
WW Norton & Co Poulenc: The Life in the Songs
Book SynopsisFrancis Poulenc (1899–1963) is widely acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s most significant masters of vocal music—solo, choral and operatic—quite apart from his achievements in instrumental spheres. But what it cost him has been underestimated. In this seminal biography, which will serve as the definitive guide to the songs, Graham Johnson shows that it is in Poulenc’s extraordinary songs and seeing how they fit into his life—his hidden sexuality, addiction and all—that we discover the composer’s essential artistic being. With Jeremy Sams’s song translations, the first in over forty years, and the insight that comes from a lifetime of performing this music, Johnson provides an essential volume for singers, pianists, listeners and readers interested in the artistic milieu of modernism in the first half of the twentieth century.Trade Review"Admirably written, long-pondered and scrupulously researched… Johnson proves a marvellous guide to [Poulenc’s songs’] various qualities and the contexts in which they emerged." -- Rupert Christiansen - Literary Review""...an entertaining and learned new biography... [Johnson] has unparalleled practical knowledge of the terrain... [his] real concern is the music: [he is] convinced of its complexity, depth and importance... The translations (by Jeremy Sams ) also make this a valuable compendium, not to say a triumph of copyright clearance." -- Oliver Soden - The Observer"…an absolutely indispensable listening guide to the songs themselves, yet the wealth of information it contains gives us so much more. [This] marvellous book… sends you back to listen to Poulenc's music anew, with a greatly enriched understanding both of the man and his world." -- Tim Ashley - Gramophone"...a vital new book on the songs which are here placed ingeniously in the context of the composer's life... the definitive guide to Poulenc's melodies..." -- Jon Tolansky - Classical Music"If ever such a book as this was needed, this is it. Graham Johnson's masterly study cannot be improved upon in terms of detail, musical understanding and thoroughgoing grasp of the subject. It is beautifully written, chock-full of apposite detail and is superbly illustrated... This wonderful and deeply original study will disabuse any who continue to underestimate Poulenc's genius. It is a major achievement by any benchmark... this outstanding volume deserves a place in any self-respecting musicians' library." -- Musical Opinion"And if Wagner sounds too daunting for Christmas, try Graham Johnson's Poulenc: The Life in the Songs which presents the 20th century’s most loveable composer in terms that manage to be serious but entertaining – as you'd expect from someone with Johnson's unique authority as a performer, raconteur and scholar. Joyfully enlightening." -- Westminster Extra
£35.99
Ig Publishing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Book Synopsis
£14.39
Other Press LLC Heart, The: Frida Kahlo In Paris
Book Synopsis
£14.39
BenBella Books Welcome to My Jungle: An Unauthorized Account of
Book SynopsisFortunately for fans, Craig Duswalt hasn't just heard rumours - he knows what went on backstage on one of the longest and most popular music events because he lived it. As Axl Rose's personal manager during the ridiculously long world tour, Duswalt experienced things that would make most people run the other way and never look back. And in Welcome to My Jungle, he shares the sometimes hilarious, sometimes just plain reckless, and always insane actual happenings on the tour. A true must-read for Guns N' Roses fans, Welcome to My Jungle delights readers with hilarious and entertaining exclusive firsthand stories like: The day Axl Rose, Kurt Cobain, and Courtney Love got into a “huge war' backstage at the MTV Awards, Why Guns N' Roses are forever linked to Charles Manson, The night Liz Taylor walked in on a very nude Slash - and stayed a while. Featuring little-known facts for the ultimate GN'R fan, Welcome To My Jungle gives an inside look at what it's really like to live and work with a hugely popular band, from the middle of a rock and roll hurricane.
£19.79
Benbella Books Marinovich
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£22.50
Pegasus Books My Captain America: A Granddaughter's Memoir of a
Book SynopsisA finely wrought coming-of-age memoir about the author’s relationship with her beloved grandfather Joe Simon, cartoonist and co-creator of Captain America.In the 1990s, Megan Margulies’s Upper West Side neighborhood was marked by addicts shooting up in subway stations, frequent burglaries, and the “Wild Man of 96th Street,” who set fires under cars and heaved rocks through stained glass church windows. The world inside her parents’ tiny one-bedroom apartment was hardly a respite, with a family of five—including some loud personalities—eventually occupying the 550-square-foot space. Salvation arrived in the form of her spirited grandfather, Daddy Joe, whose midtown studio became a second home to Megan. There, he listened to her woes, fed her Hungry Man frozen dinners, and simply let her be. His living room may have been dominated by the drawing table, notes, and doodles that marked him as Joe Simon the cartoonist. But for Megan, he was always Daddy Joe: an escape from her increasingly hectic home, a nonjudgmental voice whose sense of humor was as dry as his farfel, and a steady presence in a world that felt off balance. Evoking New York City both in the 1980s and ’90s and during the Golden Age of comics in the 1930s and ’40s, My Captain America flashes back from Megan’s story to chart the life and career of Rochester-native Joe Simon, from his early days retouching publicity photos and doing spot art for magazines, to his partnership with Jack Kirby at Timely Comics (the forerunner of Marvel Comics), which resulted in the creation of beloved characters like Captain America, the Boy Commandos, and Fighting American. My Captain America offers a tender and sharply observed account of Megan’s life with Daddy Joe—and an intimate portrait of the creative genius who gave us one of the most enduring superheroes of all time.Trade Review“A tender and heart-aching account of coming-of-age, and of aging, and of a vanishing New York City, as well as a much-needed corrective to myths concerning the origins of some of our most iconographic pieces of 20th-century popular culture. Thank you, Megan Margulies, for getting it all so right.” -- Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award“We all need to have a Captain America in our life, especially these days. They can take many different forms. Fortunately for us, Megan Margulies’ grandfather was the creator of the original Captain America and shares a poignant and touching portrait of not just a seminal practitioner of the art form of comics, but a loving and unconventional grandfather.” -- Al Roker, Today Show co-host“Read Megan’s memoir if you care about Captain America and Joe Simon’s other other-worldly heroes from Comics’ Golden Age. Read it for a granddaughter’s stirring love poem to her Daddy Joe. Read it for writing as compelling as the storytelling. Read it because you, like me, need an escape today, and this is one that'll transport you to an uplifting setting and moment.” -- Larry Tye, author of "Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero"“Megan Margulies’s beautifully rendered chronicle of a charmed friendship brims with the illustrative skills that she so admired in her grandfather. Painting with the indelible details of city dwelling—gurgling coffeemakers, wooden taborets, and rooftop stargazing—she brings to marvelous life the bonds of three generations of restless, complicated New Yorkers, with and without their shields.” -- Sean Howe, author of "Marvel Comics: The Untold Story," a New York Times bestseller“My Captain America is the best and truest kind of love story: one with a thousand tendrils that come together to create a rich symphony of love letters to family, a city, history, and—maybe most importantly—the author herself. In this cinematic memoir of growing up in New York City with a grandfather who’d invented the character Captain America, Megan Margulies deftly explores familial bonds, the lasting power of the smallest (and deceptively simplest) of acts, and the way in which the deepest and most transformative grief forms from the most profound of bonds. This marvelous book drew me in and kept me enthralled in its evocations of a vibrant childhood and a fascinating family history, and moved me to tears with its sensitivity, compassion, and depth.” -- Eva Hagberg, author of "How to Be Loved: A Memoir of Lifesaving Friendship"“Megan Margulies’s My Captain America was a compelling read from start to finish. Margulies has crafted a touching and relatable coming-of-age story, a nuanced and accurate portrait of New York City in the 1990s, and, most importantly, a beautiful heart at the center of the book—Daddy Joe, Joe Simon, creator of Captain America. At turns moving, funny, and cinematic, I tore through these pages and enjoyed every moment.” -- Erin Khar, author of "Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies that Nearly Killed Me"“Megan Margulies tells the story of a national treasure through the loving eyes of a granddaughter. Joe Simon invented superheroes like Captain America and also lent his daughter a hand helping to raise his granddaughter Megan during her complicated 1990s New York City adolescence. In Daddy Joe, as she called him, Megan had a true champion and a loving reflection of the grown up she could become. Margulies writes her story with vulnerability and honesty. As a narrator, she is definitely someone you want to be friends with and the portrait she paints of her grandfather makes you really want to be friends with him, too. She helps us see that this creator of a superhero, actually kind of was one.” -- Joselin Linder, author of "The Family Gene"“With writing by turns gritty, raw, and poignant, Megan Margulies’ memoir interweaves stories from the Golden Age of comics, New York City in two iconic eras, and a girl's love for her grandfather. It’s a compelling read, and a testament to how family bonds so often shape us into the person we will become.” -- Teresa Lust, author of "A Blissful Feast" and "Pass the Polenta"“There are too few books that explore the importance of a loving relationship between a grandchild and grandparent. Oozing with love for her grandfather, this memoir plays tribute to Margulies’s grandfather, the cartoonist Joe Simon, who provides the foundational love for the author growing up in New York City. Margulies gives us a portrait of the artist as an old man— energetic, open-hearted, wise—whose last decades of life were most meaningful to the first decades of the author’s life. A tender story about what we inherit, what we hope to pass on, and how the man who created the superhero Captain America plays a real-life guardian angel to his granddaughter. A book to cherish.” -- Tory Bilski, author of "Wild Horses of the Summer Sun"“It is a peculiar thing to belong to someone who belongs to everyone, but in My Captain America, Megan Margulies accomplishes a telescopic feat: This is at once an intimate, finely observed rendering of a single, beloved man and a compelling portrait of a public figure and his legendary work. Even with a larger-than-life, possibly immortal Nazi-fighting superhero in nearly every frame, Margulies shows, through confidently drawn and lovingly rendered scenes, that true heroes are the altogether mortal, everyday humans who love us generously, quietly, and durably.” -- Andrea Avery, author of "Sonata"“Episodic memoir recounting the close relationship between grandfather and grandchild—and an unusual grandfather at that. [Joe] Simon was always ready for adventure, and he emerges as quite a character. Fans of comic book history will enjoy this affectionate look backward.” * Kirkus Reviews *
£17.00
Deep Vellum Publishing See That My Grave is Kept Clean: The World and
Book SynopsisA new biography of the beloved but mysterious Blind Lemon Jefferson, famous blues musician. Born in 1897, Jefferson was a blind street musician who played his guitar at the corner of Elm Street and Central Avenue in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas, Texas, until a Paramount Records scout discovered him. Between 1926 and his untimely death in 1929, Jefferson made more than 80 records and became the biggest-selling blues singer in America. Although his recordings are extensive, details about his life are relatively few. Through Govenar and Lornell's extensive interviews and research, See That My Grave is Kept Clean gathers the scattered facts behind Blind Lemon Jefferson's mythic representations.
£20.70
Vertical Inc. Compound Cinematics (paperback): Akira Kurosawa
Book Synopsis
£13.49
She Writes Press High Hopes
£15.29
Simon & Schuster A Good Bad Boy
Book SynopsisAn artful and contemplative tribute to the late actor famed for his role as Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210.Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills 90210, Luke Perry was fifty-two years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of 90’s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality, and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished icons—with recent roles in the hit series Riverdale and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood bringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture. In A Good Bad Boy, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique amo
£17.00
Fantagraphics James Warren: Empire Of Monsters: The Man Behind
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£21.24
Authorhouse Hello My Name Is Santa: An Alcoholic's Journey
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£18.95
Primary Information Yvonne Rainer: Work 1961-73
Book Synopsis
£28.80
ECW Press,Canada Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: The Rise of
Book SynopsisThe first book to celebrate the classic-era Motà rhead lineup of Lemmy Kilmister, 'Fast' Eddie Clarke, and Phil 'Philthy Animal' Taylor.
£16.19
Orion Publishing Co Going Off Alarming: The Autobiography: Vol 2
Book SynopsisThe dazzlingly funny second volume of Danny Baker's memoirs: the television years.Since my first book was published I have had countless friends and family members get in touch to say how come I hadn't included this story or that tale. Was I ashamed of being shot twice, once up the arse, in Jamaica Road? How long should a man live with such a secret? If by retrospectively dropping my trousers every few pages I can reveal a fuller picture of myself during these years, then so be it.Besides. Being shot up the arse. In front of your mates.What else did I forget?Trade ReviewFrom presenting cheeky trivia on teatime telly to a disastrous panto sting, he's like a living poster of Kipling's If, happily talking over both Triumph and Disaster. ...his own talents, at least as a memoirist, are closer to that other driven south Londoner Spike Milligan. -- Steve Jelbert * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Going Off Alarming is quite simply the funniest book you'll read all year. Seriously....Like its predecessor, the book is a hoot from soup to nuts, easily as funny, as self-deprecating and as worldly-wise as The Moon's A Balloon by David Niven. If you have been unlucky in life, and have spent the bulk of it without coming into contact with him or his work, then this book is a wonderful introduction. What's it like? Well, it's like Tom and Jerry written by a Cockney Roddy Doyle on Prozac. But funnier. -- Dylan Jones * GQ ONLINE *..great company and a brilliant raconteur. -- Viv Groskop * THE OBSERVER *Volume two of Baker's autobiography rattles along at the same delightful and dizzying pace as its predecessor. ..Baker loves a tale told at his own expense and they come thick and fast. He writes like he speaks, with hyperactive garrulity and a rhetorical flourish. ..there is something about Baker in full flow that is affirming. Book three will doubtless be out for next Christmas but, when it comes to the Pangloss of Deptford, you are happy to forgive him the indulgence. -- Duncan White * DAILY TELEGRAPH *For comic value, go for Danny Baker's latest memoir. The funniest book Dylan Jones has read all year. -- Olivia Cole * GQ *It's the strength of the anecdotes, and welcome digressions from the narrative, that make the book such a delight. * CHOICE MAGAZINE *Any autobiography that opens with the author being shot in the buttocks demands your complete attention. This book made me howl with laughter -- Lorraine Kelly * HERALD SCOTLAND *
£9.99
Reaktion Books Yves Klein
Book SynopsisAmong his many captivating exploits, the French artist Yves Klein (1928 - 1962) invented his own brand of colour: the inimitable International Klein Blue. Denounced as a charlatan and feted as a mystic, Klein scandalized the art world with his enthusiastic embrace of the highs and lows of post-war mass culture and his exploitation of controversial publicity tactics. Today it is clear that Klein was not only one of the most radical artists of the post-war period but an iconic role model for contemporary practices: he reinvented abstract painting, conceived new horizons for performance art and was a trailblazer in the interdisciplinary realm of land, body and conceptual art. Nuit Banai examines the relationship between Klein's brief but incandescent life and his wide repertoire of artistic practices. The book establishes that Klein's brilliance was above all performative, as he created and inhabited a cast of public identities: avant-garde artist, bourgeois, judo expert, painter, charlatan, collaborator, politician, middle-class mystic, fascist and showman.With each persona, Klein invented new ways to communicate his paradoxical message of spiritual enlightenment and Dada iconoclasm to an unsuspecting, bemused and entranced audience. This new critical biography illuminates Klein's influential and multifaceted artistic career. Alongside contemporaries like Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys and postmodern chameleons like Cindy Sherman, Klein's protean performance of multiple roles stands as a landmark example of the artist's transformational status. An invaluable introduction to the life and work of this flamboyant individual, Yves Klein will appeal to students and scholars of Klein as well as those interested in contemporary art and twentieth-century culture.
£12.34
Birlinn General The Soul of the Journey: The Mendelssohns in
Book SynopsisBrother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn enjoyed a rare bond: they were intimate companions and theirs was one of the most significant musical relationships of the 19th century. They shared and commented on each other’s compositions, each highly appreciative of the other but also offering frank, critical advice. Their travels produced some great music – Felix’s best loved works, the Hebrides Overture and the Scottish Symphony, were inspired by his 1829 visit to Scotland, whilst Fanny’s innovative piano cycle Das Jahr was a musical response to the tour of Italy she made in 1839–40. Combining letters and sketches with an accompanying narrative describing their journeys, this is a wonderful celebration of the two Mendelssohns and a portrait of Scotland and Italy of the time as seen through the eyes of two of the Romantic movement’s most acclaimed composers.Trade Review'. . . engagingly written and handsomely illustrated. The Soul of the Journey reminds us that two of the seminal German composers of the 1830s and 1840s were “serious" tourists, who brought back from their travels in Scotland and Italy not only visual reminiscences but inspiration for several of their most significant composition' -- Professor R. Larry Todd, Duke University, author of Mendelssohn: A Life in Music and Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn'A beautifully produced book, lavishly illustrated, carefully researched and written: a perfect gift for music lovers' * Blackwell's Bookshop Edinburgh *'This account of Felix and Fanny Mendelssoh’s travels around Europe sheds fascinating new light on some of their greatest works' -- Scotland on Sunday * Stuart Kelly *'Ambache's writing is clear and well honed… beautifully produced and lavishly illustrated' -- Jessica Duchen * BBC Music Magazine *
£13.49
Pushkin Press Young Rembrandt: A Biography
Book SynopsisRembrandt's life has always been an enigma. How did a miller's son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist in the world? With his formative years shrouded in mystery, the only remaining evidence of Rembrandt's life as a young man is his work. Deeply rooted in the turbulent changes that his hometown was undergoing, Rembrandt's early paintings tell a fascinating story of artistic evolution against the backdrop of the widening horizons of Leiden's cultural and commercial life during the Dutch Golden Age. Leiden's good fortune facilitated Rembrandt's. But who was that young man inventing himself as the city around him grew and prospered? How did Rembrandt become Rembrandt? To find out, Leiden native Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first twenty-five years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.
£17.00
Atlantic Books Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Story of Huguette
Book SynopsisEmpty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of nineteenth-century America with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?Huguette Clark was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette's copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.Trade ReviewAn evocative and rollicking read, part social history, part hothouse mystery, part grand guignol. * The Daily Beast *Empty Mansions is a dazzlement and a wonder... This is an enchanting journey into the mysteries of the mind, a true-to-life exploration of strangeness and delight. -- Pat ConroyEmpty Mansions reveals this mysterious family in sumptuous detail. -- John BerendtAn amazing story of profligate wealth, one so wild that 'American aspiration' doesn't begin to describe its excesses . . . An outsized tale of rags-to-riches prosperity * The New York Times *Empty Mansions is at once an engrossing portrait of a forgotten American heiress and a fascinating meditation on the crosswinds of extreme wealth. Hugely entertaining and well researched, Empty Mansions is a fabulous read. -- Amanda Foreman
£17.00
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Wilhelm Furtwängler: Art and the Politics of the
Book SynopsisA pathbreaking, new intellectual biography of the composer and conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) has entered the historical memory as a renowned interpreter of the canon of Austro-German musical masterworks. His extensive legacy of recorded performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and Wagneris widely regarded as unsurpassed. Yet more than sixty years after his death he remains a controversial figure: the complexities and equivocacy of his high-profile position within the Third Reich still cast a long shadow over hisreputation. This book builds an intellectual biography of Furtwängler, probing this ambiguity, through a critical examination of his extensive series of essays, addresses and symphonies. It traces the development of his thought from its foundations in late nineteenth-century traditions of Bildung and associated discourses of conservative-minded nationalism, through the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic and the cultural and moral dilemmasof the Nazi period, to the post-World War II years of Bundesrepublik reconstruction, in which the beleaguered idealist found himself adrift in an alien cultural environment overshadowed by the unfolding narrative of the Nazi holocaust. The book will be of interest not only to music scholars but to cultural and intellectual historians as well. ROGER ALLEN is a Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford and author of Richard Wagner's Beethoven (1870): A New Translation (Boydell Press, 2014)Trade Review[An] absorbing, but balanced and methodical, appraisal of Furtwängler as man and musician. The unique aspect of his book is the detailed attention that is given to the conductor's extensive writings...a key towards understanding [Wilhelm Furtwängler] place German music history. * THE WAGNER JOURNAL *An innovative approach to this highly controversial conductor whose career flourished under Nazi rule...a very welcome and insightful complement to the extant library of Furtwängler biographies. * GERMAN HISTORY *Roger Allen's thoroughly researched volume is something subtler and ultimately perhaps more insightful. * OPERA *An astute essay on the highs and lows of German cultural history, as seen through the eyes and perceived by the actions of the star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler...Allen enters this terrain equipped with a great sense of fairness rarely found in scholarly studies. * WAGNERSPECTRUM *Trace[s] the genesis of the belief system that made Furtwängler accept the Nazi regime as an unappetizing but tolerable set-up in which to achieve his cultural aims...Reading Furtwängler's writings with Allen as a guide illuminates the political undercurrents of his aesthetics. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Explored through Furtwängler's writings and those of relevant contemporaries, is the social, intellectual and cultural hinterland - the 'Germanness' - that shaped his being...There is much that is interesting here about the nature of German conservatism and Furtwängler's relationship to it. * GRAMOPHONE *This impeccably researched and engagingly written study tackles the emotive subject from a cultural perspective, shedding fresh light on how Furtwängler remained (at least in his mind) apolitical during a period of extreme politicisation. * BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE *Table of ContentsIntroduction Wilhelm Furtwängler: The Historical, Cultural and Intellectual Background Childhood and Youth [1886-1911] Lübeck and Mannheim [1911-1920] Furtwängler in the Weimar Republic [1919- 1933] Furtwängler and the Nazi State I [1933-1935] Furtwängler in the Nazi State II [1935-1945] Reflection and Reaction: Furtwängler in the post-war period [1945-1950] Furtwängler as Symphonist 'All Greatness is Simplicity' [1951-1954] Afterword Appendix 1: Two Furtwängler essays, 'Heinrich Schenker' [1947], 'Hans Pfitzner' [1948] Appendix 2: Thomas Mann, 'Germany and the Germans' [1945] Appendix 3: Audio and visual sources Bibliography
£27.00
Titan Books Ltd The Autobiography of James T. Kirk
Book SynopsisThe Autobiography of James T. Kirk chronicles the greatest Starfleet captain's life (2233-2293), in his own words. From his birth on the U.S.S. Kelvin, his youth spent on Tarsus IV, his time in the Starfleet Academy, his meteoric raise through the ranks of Starfleet, and his illustrious career at the helm of the Enterprise, this in-world memoir uncovers Captain Kirk in a way Star Trek fans have never seen.Trade Review“A fascinating look at the exploits of one of pop culture’s greatest and most wonderfully flawed heroes” - Pop Culture Vulture"Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the Trek fan in your life? This might just be it...A fantastic book." - Nerdophiles“Another great touch was the addition of "editor's notes" throughout the narrative that lent a feeling of verisimilitude to the pages of the book. Little things that Kirk gets wrong in the book that are "corrected" by the editor make this feel like a real autobiography. Also, a full color insert of pictures in the middle of the book from Kirk's life, including his Academy graduation photo and travel documents to Tarsus IV, lend even more credibility.” - Trekcore"The Autobiography of James T. Kirk" is a wonderful addition to the stories of the fabled captain who sat in that center seat aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for longer than any other leader in Starfleet history." - The News Hub"An accomplished, stirring tribute to a beloved sci-fi series that will captivate fans and newcomers alike." - Kirkus - Starred Review"A cause to celebrate for any fan." - City of Films"For readers like me, who loved that show and remember it with extreme fondness, it is an absolute treat of a book. I read it in one sitting, mostly with a smile on my face. And occasionally with a pang in my heart." - Reading Reality "The Autobiography of James T. Kirk serves as the perfect accompaniment for any fan looking to revisit the series with a refreshing new perspective on the well-known and beloved character." - Hypable“If you are a Star Trek fan, you will enjoy this book. In fact, the bigger a fan you are, the more you will appreciate it.” - Popmatters
£8.54
Elliott & Thompson Limited Verdi: The Man Revealed
Book SynopsisGiuseppe Verdi remains the greatest operatic composer that Italy, the home of opera, has ever produced. Yet throughout his lifetime he claimed to detest composing and repeatedly rejected it. He was a landowner, a farmer, a politician and symbol of Italian independence; but his music tells a different story.; An obsessive perfectionist, Verdi drove collaborators to despair but his works were rightly lauded from the start as dazzling feats of composition and characterisation. From Rigoletto to Otello, La Traviatato to Aida, Verdi's canon encompassed the full range of human emotion. His private life was no less complex: he suffered great loss, and went out of his way to antagonise many erstwhile supporters, including his own family. An outspoken advocate of Italian independence and a sharp critic of the church, he was o en at odds with nineteenth-century society and paid the price.; In Verdi: The Man Revealed, John Suchet attempts to get under the skin of perhaps the most private composer who ever lived. Unpicking his protestations, his deliberate embellishments and disingenuous disavowals, Suchet reveals the contradictory and sometimes curmudgeonly character of this great artist, convicted throughout much of his life but ultimately unable to walk away from the art for which he will be forever known.Table of ContentsContents; 1; Confused Beginnings ...1; 2; A Father and His Daughter ...13; 3; `He Is a Rude, Uncivil Scoundrel' ...21; 4; Intolerable Losses ...33; 5; Another Loss and a Fiasco ...43; 6; `Little By Little the Opera Was Composed' ...51; 7; The Galley Years ...61; 8; `Signor Maestro' ...71; 9; Verdi, Man of Property ...81; 10; Queen Victoria Is Not Amused ...91; 11; `The Hour of Liberation Has Sounded' ...101; 12; Verdi Sets Tongues Wagging ...111; 13; The Opera Is `Repugnant, Immoral, Obscene' ...121; 14; A Rift in the Verdi Family ...131; 15; A Question of Identity ...139; 16; `Without You, I Am a Body Without a Soul' ...147; 17; The Bear of Busseto ...157; 18; Verdi, Gentleman Farmer ...165; 19; `Verdi Is My Tyrant' ...175; 20; A Wedding At Last ...183; 21; A Soprano Impresses Verdi ...193; 22; `I Am an Almost Perfect Wagnerian' ...203; 23; An Opera for Cairo ...213; 24; `The All-Powerful Corruptor of Italian Artistic Taste' ...223; 25; Scandal and Comedy ...233; 26; `One Button More, One Button Less' ...243; Afterword ...255; Notes ...267; Bibliography ...270; Index ...272
£20.00
Vintage Publishing Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The definitive
Book SynopsisRead the definitive biography of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, whose music and career illuminate the legacy of 1960s counterculture.Between 1969 and 1974, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were the most successful, influential and politically potent rock band in America. More than any of their peers, they channelled and broadcast all the radical anger, romantic idealism and generational angst of their era. The vast emotional range of their music, from delicate acoustic confessionals to raucous counter-culture anthems, was mirrored in the turbulence of their personal lives.Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is the first major biography of a band whose first two albums are undisputed rock classics, and which continues to attract a large and loyal following to their sporadic reunions. At the same time, Peter Doggett illuminates the pivotal years of 1960s counterculture through the story of four of its key protagonists, whose music, beliefs and relationships with each other chronicle both its trajectory and its legacy.'A fascinating, rip-roaring and timely re-telling of a corner of music history' Frank TurnerTrade ReviewPeter Dogett's book is a fascinating, rip-roaring and timely re-telling of a corner of music history that was hugely important but is all too often forgotten. The rehabilitation of Crosby, Stills and Nash's reputation (and of Young's contributions here) is long overdue -- Frank TurnerEngaging… [Doggett] use[s] the saga of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as a metaphor for the Woodstock generation and their doomed mission to return to the garden -- Will Hodgkinson * The Times, *Book of the Week* *[A] meticulous chronicle of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young… Doggett carefully charts the stalled sessions and schemes caused by this alpha-male jostling… For fans who want detailed chronology, it will be a joy, but Doggett’s book is also a deft portrait of a golden age tarnishing even as the band sang -- Victoria Segal * Sunday Times *Especially good on the musicians early lives and early Seventies peak * Choice *Doggett… presents a solid, steady, evenhanded portrait. He loves the music without being slavish, and pays each of the musicians their due -- Anthony Quinn * Mail on Sunday *Exhaustively researched… If you think you know the history of CSN&Y then read this and, like me, you will be surprised at what you learn -- Tom Povey * RNR *Doggett…treasure[s] the band’s early oeuvre and writes with empathy about the group -- Holly George-Warren * Times Literary Supplement *
£12.34
Vintage Publishing Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life
Book SynopsisFrom the author of the bestselling Darwin: A Life in Poems, Ruth Padel’s new collection follows in the footsteps of one of the world’s greatest composers, Beethoven, and investigates what his life and music might mean to us todayTwo hundred and fifty years since Beethoven was born, Ruth Padel goes on a personal search for him, retracing his steps through war-torn Europe of the early nineteenth century, delving into his music, letters, diaries and the conversation books he used when deaf, to uncover the man behind the legend. Her quest, exploring the life of one of the most creative artists who ever lived, turns more personal than she expects, taking her into the sources of her own creativity and musicality. From a deeply musical family herself, Padel’s parents met through music, and she grew up playing chamber music on viola – Beethoven’s instrument as a child. Her father’s grandfather, a concert pianist born on the German–Danish border, studied in Leipzig with a friend of Beethoven before immigrating to the UK. The poems in this illuminating biography in verse conjure not only Beethoven’s life and personality, but her own music-making and love both of the European music-making tradition to which her father’s family belongs, and to the continent itself Europe.Trade ReviewHow to uncover from biographical details the mystery that is music? With precision, heart-breaking beauty and lyric insight, Ruth Padel performs a miracle: Beethoven comes alive before us, the son of a drunk, who became a genius, and lost everything, and found his way back to the center. And here we are, following Padel's own genius for composing the music of a story via lyrical means. You will find your heart shored up / by meeting the trapped brilliance of his eyes, she writes. Indeed -- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf RepublicVividly beautiful * BBC *Poetry, biography, music and memoir collide in this wonderful collection from Ruth Padel... A tender and evocative portrait of the man and his music, and most of all the profound ways it affects listeners and performers * Tatler *Padel's imagery and imagination took me deeper into Beethoven than many biographies I've read... Padel knows her history. But a poet is free to inhabit her subject and elaborate on the record -- Anthony Tommasini * New York Times *What a wonderful and unusual idea. Ruth Padel writes with true passion; her love for, and understanding of, the man and his music shine through each poem -- Steven Isserlis, cellistBeethoven’s music encompasses the entire blinding spectrum of human thought and emotion, from violent to ethereal, from chaos to sublimity. Ruth Padel’s poems encompass that uncontainable spirit to an astounding degree, and preserve the primal shock of our first hearing -- Alex Ross, author of The Rest is Noise, music critic of the New YorkerBreathtaking -- Paul Griffiths * Times Literary Supplement *
£11.40
Hal Leonard Europe Limited David Bowie: 1947-2016
Book Synopsis
£19.79
Cornerstone When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four
Book Synopsis___________________6 JULY, 1972David Bowie appears on Top of the Pops for a third time.His quiff is big, bold, and the colour of fire. His make-up is lavish. His jumpsuit is a wild burst of colourful patterns, like a fluorescent fish skin. He carries a brand-new blue acoustic guitar. There's excitement, mixed with incredulity. And then he begins to play.It's a moment that will change the world of music forever.This is Ziggy Stardust, what would become Bowie's most famous persona. It's an instant seismic shift in the zeitgeist. This one performance embeds Ziggy Stardust into the nation's consciousness, and music will never be the same again.In When Ziggy Played Guitar, Dylan Jones looks back at one of the most influential moments in pop history,the birth of an icon, and the myriad unexpected ways that David Bowie reshaped pop culture.Trade ReviewThe best music book I have ever read, dislodging Revolution in the Head and England's Dreaming. Superb in every way. -- Matthew d'AnconaHis blow-by-blow account of the performance is breathless in its fan-boy enthusiasm and much of the rest of When Ziggy Played Guitar is rooted in its personal impressions. “The by-product of Ziggy’s success was the validation of identity, our identity”, Jones writes, and it’s hard not to be moved by his hero worship. * New Statesman *Jones is a wonderfully fluent writer, with a terrific knack for atmospheric phrasemaking, period detail and juicy factoids. * Daily Telegraph *Dylan Jones’s account of David Bowie’s rise to superstardom. We’ll eat up anything about the greatest pop star who ever walked this planet. * The Herald Magazine *This excellent book looks at the background to that memorable TV event, and its enduring legacy. * Choice Magazine *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Artemisia Gentileschi
Book SynopsisArtemisia Gentileschi was the greatest female artists of the Baroque age. In Artemisia Gentileschi, critic and historian Jonathan Jones discovers how Artemisia overcame a turbulent past to become one of the foremost painters of her day.As a young woman Artemisia was raped by her tutor, and then had to endure a seven-month-long trial during which she was brutally examined by the authorities. Gentileschi was shamed in a culture where honour was everything. Yet she went on to become one of the most sought-after artists of the seventeenth century. Yet she went on to become one of the most sought-after artists of the seventeenth century. Gentileschi's art communicated a powerful personal vision. Like Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois or Tracey Emin, she put her life into her art.'Lives of the Artists'is a new series of brief artists biographies from Laurence King Publishing. The series takes as its inspiration Giorgio Vasari's five-hundred-year-old masterwork, updating it with modern takes on the lives of key artists past and present. Focusing on the life of the artist rather than examining their work, each book also includes key images illustrating the artist's life.Trade Review"In the world and words of Jones’s book, the 17th century could have happened yesterday, it is urgent, immediate and very compelling." -- Irish Times"Jonathan Jones’s highly readable Artemisia Gentileschi is the latest in the publisher Laurence King’s ‘Lives of the Artists’ series. (...) Jones gives a lively account of her life and career, and his enthusiasm for her work permeates his writing: the descriptive passages on her paintings are especially evocative." -- Apollo Magazine
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co Keith Haring
Book SynopsisKeith Haring was a revolutionary artist, who transformed the art world during his short but impactful life. Brought to life by Simon Doonan, Creative Director for Barneys New York, this new pocket-sized biography tells his inspirational story.Revolutionary and renegade, Keith Haring was an artist for the people, creating an instantly recognisable repertoire of symbols - barking dogs, space-ships, crawling babies, clambering faceless people - which became synonymous with the volatile culture of 1980s. Like a careening, preening pinball, Keith Haring playfully slammed into all aspects of this decade - hip-hop, new-wave, graffiti, funk, art, style, gay culture - and brought them together.Haring's fanatical drive propelled him into the orbit of the most interesting people of his time: Jean Michel Basquiat envied him; Warhol, William Boroughs and Grace Jones collaborated with him. Madonna and he shared the same tastes in men. Famous at 25, dead from AIDS at 31, Keith Haring is remembered as a Pied Piper, an unpretentious communicator who appeared happiest when mentoring a gang of kids, arming them with brushes and attacking the nearest wall.A series of brief biographies of the great artists, Lives of the Artists takes as its inspiration Giorgio Vasari's five-hundred-year-old masterwork, updating it with modern takes on the lives of key artists past and present. Focusing on the life of the artist rather than examining their work, each book also includes key images illustrating the artist's life. Hardbound, but pocket-sized, the books each sport a specially-commissioned portrait of their subject on the half-jacket.
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co Amy Winehouse
Book SynopsisIn her intense, brief life, Amy Winehouse's music spoke directly to millions. And since her death, her fans have only increased.Amy Winehouse is one of those pop stars that comes along so rarely we're not sure we knew what we had when we had her. Her story speaks to us not because the relentless tabloid coverage of her darker days unfolded in real time, but because she tapped into deeply personal yet universal feelings and displayed them to us in all their painful, raw glory. She turned our demons into something we could dance and sing to, and she skewered those who wronged her in ways we could only dream of.
£11.69
Palazzo Editions Ltd Pink: Raise Your Glass
Book SynopsisPink is one of the most trailblazing artists of our time. Her breakthrough album, Missundaztood, was released to critical acclaim in 2001 and showcased her unique, powerhouse pop vocals, as well as her rebellious style. In the two decades since, she has remained firmly in pop’s upper echelons, despite her refusal to conform. She consistently out-sings her contemporaries with hit songs such as, “Get the Party Started,” “Just Like a Pill,” “So What,” “What About Us,” and “Beautiful Trauma,” while her willingness to speak frankly about difficult topics has made her a relatable role model. She is an outspoken animal rights activist, and has been vocal about women’s rights, LGBT rights, and her support of same-sex marriage. Away from the studio, Pink’s live shows are nothing short of phenomenal; her jaw-dropping acrobatics mark her out as a truly spectacular performer. Loved by fans and revered by the music industry, Pink continues to enjoy global success and substantial airplay. Her accolades are numerous and include, three Grammys, a Daytime Emmy Award, and seven MTV Video Music Awards—the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award among them. In 2019, she was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the Brit Awards, and in 2021 she accepted the Icon Award at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. Pink: Raise Your Glass is a celebration of one of pop’s longest reigning rebels. Beautifully illustrated with essential images, this book is a fitting tribute to an undeniably, remarkable pop artist.
£23.80
Gemini Books Group The Essential... Beyoncé
Book SynopsisThe complete story of ''Queen Bey'' for every Beyoncé superfanBeyoncé is one the greatest artists of all time. Performing since she was a child, she has earned megastar status both as a member of best-selling girl group Destiny''s Child and as a solo act.The most-awarded musician in Grammy history, Beyoncé''s ascension to ''Queen Bey'' is cast with critically acclaimed albums, a desire to explore her creativity and a willingness to push boundaries and defy expectations. Her stage performances are compelling to watch, and she is undoubtedly one of the great vocalists of our time.Outside of music she is a savvy businesswoman, one half of power couple the Carters - with husband rapper Jay-Z - social justice advocate, style icon, fashion designer and sometime actress and film director; a defining, artistic tour de force for the twenty-first century.The Essential... Beyoncéis her complete story; from child performer to prominent cultural figure, fully illustrated throughout with stunning, iconic images.The Essential... seriesCelebrating the world''s best-loved popular icons and cultural luminaries, The Essential series is packed with facts, quotes, photos and stories.
£13.50
MX Publishing Jeremy Brett - Playing A Part
Book Synopsis“Holmes could be rude, impatient, abrupt, and his intolerance of fools was legendary. I tried to show all this, all of the man’s incredible brilliance. But there are some cracks in Holmes’s marble, as in an almost-perfect Rodin statue. And I tried to show that, too. It’s difficult for me to say what I may have given to the image of Holmes. Faithful to Conan Doyle’s text, certainly. Also, I’ve tried to bring out the emotion that is there in Holmes. On the surface he seems a cold, sometimes dark, rather off-putting figure. But deeper down, I think, he’s a man of feeling.” JeremyJeremy Brett is still recognised as the most celebrated incarnation of Sherlock Holmes which he presented for ten years. Jeremy delighted viewers with his dashing, arrogant, moody interpretation of the most popular famous detective he brought a brooding intensity to his finest role - one of disturbing power. He is still called the definitive Sherlock Holmes.Covering a forty year period from first leaving Central School of Speech and Drama until his early death at the age of 61, Playing a Part is a full career book of “a very fine actor” who would delight audiences as a sensitive lover or as a haunted murderer. Talented, loved and admired by the theatrical world at the birth of the National Theatre led by Laurence Olivier, Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith. Beginning and ending his career in Manchester he would transfer his talents to the American culture of the 70s as he settled into his new life with his American wife but was enticed back with some of the best classical roles for television and the stage.Jeremy’s own words are used whenever they are available to present his story and his approach to playing the parts. His unfailing enthusiasm for a new project and the degree of commitment comes through.Illustrated with original photographs covering his life and career it is the first detailed record of all his performances on the stage, film or television.
£37.99
Headline Publishing Group Diana: Her Last Love
Book SynopsisWITH NEW AFTERWORD FROM THE AUTHOR.When you're the most famous woman in the world, can you really love in secret?When Princess Diana flew to Pakistan in May 1997, she went to meet the family of Dr Hasnat Khan, the man she wanted to marry. One of the most well-known and beautiful women in the world, she hoped to persuade Dr Khan's mother that she would make a suitable wife for her son. However, this was not the only hurdle to overcome: the man she called her 'Mr Wonderful' was a dedicated professional who sought to avoid the limelight – a fact that would test their love to the limits. Had their relationship succeeded, the events of that summer might have been very different.Sharing powerful testimony from Diana's closest confidants, and that of Dr Khan's own family, as well as information released during the inquests into the deaths of Diana and Dodi Fayed, this book offers a unique insight into Diana's world and the events central to her last years.This special new edition of an international bestseller, released in the year that would've marked Diana's 60th birthday, features a new afterword from the author reflecting on the legacy of this most extraordinary of women.Table of ContentsForeword • Prologue • PART ONE - The Real Diana: 'I am unwanted' • 'I want to turn back' • The Unthinkable Happens • Home Alone • 'Just call me Diana' • 'I am destroyed, I am destroyed' • PART TWO: 'What can I do to help?' • 'Do you know Imran Khan?' • 'Maybe it's time!' • 'Isn't he drop dead gorgeous!' • 'Natty' • PART THREE: 'He's doing everything he tells his patients not to do!' • 'I'm sure we've met before' • 'I have finished my ironing. Would you like me to do yours?' • 'We should invite Ms. Bhutto for a special viewing!' • 'We are laughing ourselves silly over this' • 'I wouldn't be seen dead in virtually any of them!' • Caught between a rock and a hard place • PART FOUR: 'I want to marry Hasnat Khan;' 'Tell Dr. Hasnat to marry the Princess!' • 'Tell Hasnat I'm coming back' • Anatomy of a Kiss • 'Look here, I'm not for sale!' • The Rescue Mission • Her Last Love • The Funeral • Epilogue • Appendices: 1. Timeline; 2. Sources; 3. List of illustrations • Acknowledgements • Index.
£9.49
Omnibus Press John Lennon, 1980: The Final Days
Book SynopsisJohn Lennon, 1980: The Final Days in the Life of Beatle John tells the story of the legendary musician’s incredible last year. For Lennon, 1980 had begun as a ceaseless shopping spree in which he and wife Yoko Ono fell into the doldrums of purchasing blue-chip real estate and indulging their every whim. But for John, that pivotal year would climax in several moments of creative triumph as he rediscovered his artistic self in dramatic fashion, only to be cut down by an assassin’s bullets on Monday, December 8th, 1980, in the prime of a new life that was only just beginning to blossom.
£13.49
Music Sales Ltd Rock 'n' Roll Sweepstakes: The Official Biography
Book Synopsis
£17.00
ACC Art Books Kaiser Karl: The Life of Karl Lagerfeld
Book Synopsis"admiring and ferocious" - France Inter "This first biography, fed by many first-rate witnesses... we laugh, we shudder, we admire." - Elle On the last morning of his life, Karl Lagerfeld's only companion was Sébastien, his bodyguard and right-hand man. The king of fashion insisted on being cremated, along with his universally recognisable 'gear' - the dark glasses and high starched collar that served as a bastion for his secrets. It is only now that witnesses have begun to talk. Thus emerges the story of Karl Lagerfeld: his father's past in the heart of wartime Germany, his rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent (enflamed by his only love, Jacques de Bascher) and the networks he forged with the biggest luxury manufacturers in the world as he compiled his vast fortune. Truly an unparalleled icon in the history of fashion, Lagerfeld's legacy lives on today.Trade Review'Karl Lagerfeld's personal life is examined in a new book by Raphaëlle Bacqué.' -- The Daily Mail.'Mr. Lagerfeld represented the designer of the future: multitasking, collaborative, a celebrity. He gladly fed — and fed off — the dizzying cycle of consumption.' -- The New York Times"The result is a detailed, sometimes shocking, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious look at a fashion genius." -- Cellophaneland“In 2019, the fashion world lost one of its visionaries. In this bestselling intimate biography, recently translated into English, French investigative journalist Raphaelle Bacque interviews several of Karl Lagerfeld’s confidants, colleagues and employers.” -- Daniella Saunders, Country & Town House"Thus emerges the story of Karl Lagerfeld: his father's past in the heart of wartime Germany, his rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent (enflamed by his only love, Jacques de Bascher) and the networks he forged with the biggest luxury manufacturers in the world as he compiled his vast fortune." - Lovely Books
£17.00
ACC Art Books Rebel Stylist: Caroline Baker - The Woman Who
Book Synopsis"I have always been inspired by what was happening on the street – and anyway, I couldn't afford the high fashion price tags." —Caroline Baker "Featuring an array of – now – infamous covers and high fashion editorials crafted by Baker, readers are encouraged to bask in the success of her trail-blazing tale and indulge in the history of streetwear’s rise to the helm of the fashion industry." —Wonderland "A fantastic delve into the story of fashion styling straight from the lips (and visual archive) of the lady who invented it all, Caroline Baker" —Navaz Batliwalla, disneyrollergirl "What makes this book a must-read? Author Iain R. Webb is a friend of Baker’s, so this is the inside story of a woman whose work is a masterclass in the art of style and subversion." —Yahoo Caroline Baker is the antidote to high fashion. As the legendary fashion editor of Nova magazine in the 1960s and '70s, her style was quite literally cutting-edge (she famously chopped up clothes to achieve her desired looks). She is credited with challenging the status quo of the industry and society at large, and introducing street fashion to the mass market. Stylist-of-choice for the most dynamic female designers on the scene – Katharine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood – Caroline has continued her trajectory as a fashion provocateur. Her work has appeared on the pages of Vogue, Tatler and Cosmopolitan as well as The Face and i-D – and unsurprisingly, a new generation of style-setters is now looking to Baker’s back catalogue for inspiration. This book offers an in-depth overview of Baker’s work, expertly curated and considered by Iain R. Webb. It is divided into sections that highlight specific recurring themes and tropes – such as Punk Rock, DIY, Utility and Sportswear. These ideas have defined Baker’s evolving sartorial vocabulary over six decades, and set a template for street fashion that endures to this day. Accompanied with personal commentary from Baker herself and specially written contributions by Vivienne Westwood and Katharine Hamnett, this is the definitive guide to Caroline Baker and her influence on fashion.Trade Review"Featuring an array of – now – infamous covers and high fashion editorials crafted by Baker, readers are encouraged to bask in the success of her trail-blazing tale and indulge in the history of streetwear’s rise to the helm of the fashion industry." - Wonderland"A fantastic delve into the story of fashion styling straight from the lips (and visual archive) of the lady who invented it all, Caroline Baker" - Navaz Batliwalla, disneyrollergirlCaroline Baker arrived in London with the necessary impetus and at the right time to become the creator of street style. [Translated from Spanish] - Malu Pandolfo, La Nacion"What makes this book a must-read? Author Iain R. Webb is a friend of Baker’s, so this is the inside story of a woman whose work is a masterclass in the art of style and subversion." - Yahoo"1976… It was the fashion editing at its most original, carried out by one of the most influential stylists of the era: Caroline Baker, the architect of "street fashion"." - VOGUETable of ContentsFOREWORD by CB / Rebel Style INTRODUCTION by IRW / Rebel Rebel ONE / Rebel Women TWO / Army Dreamers THREE / Punk Rocks FOUR / Reggae Boys FIVE / Pirates and Buffalo Gals SIX / Really Saying Something SEVEN / Anachronism in the UK EIGHT / Belt and Braces NINE / Men Swear TEN / Be a Sport ELEVEN / It’s a Wrap TWELVE / We Are the World THIRTEEN / Get Knitted FOURTEEN / Tits Up FIFTEEN / Up Yours SIXTEEN / Under Where? SEVENTEEN / The Way We Wore EIGHTEEN / Modern Times NINETEEN / Pin-Ups TWENTY / Lace and Fineness TWENTY-ONE / Old Romantic TWENTY-TWO / Fierce Glamour INDEX PICTURE CREDITS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
£28.00
Reaktion Books René Magritte
Book SynopsisThe Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte redefined the way we think about art. Famous for his men in bowler hats, Magritte’s witty and provocative work inspired generations of later artists, from Andy Warhol to Jasper Johns. In this illuminating new biography, Patricia Allmer radically repositions Magritte’s work in relation to its historical and cultural circumstances. Allmer explores the significant influence of events and experiences in Magritte’s early childhood and youth, recorded in his letters and essays: his memories of visiting fairs and circuses; of magical shows and performances; of the cinema; and in particular his first encounter with his future partner, Georgette, on a carousel. Allmer’s analyses of these events and their influence on both well-known and less familiar images give new insights into Magritte’s art. The book will appeal to those who wish to know more about Magritte’s life and work, as well as the wide audience for Surrealism.
£12.34
Reaktion Books Ornette Coleman: The Territory and the Adventure
Book SynopsisOrnette Coleman’s career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was the zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster, post-war world. At the dawn of the Space Age and New York’s 1960s counterculture, his music gave voice to the moment. Lauded by some, maligned by many, he forged a breakaway art sometimes called `the new thing’ or `free jazz’. Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Ornette and his contemporaries, this is the compelling story of one of America’s most adventurous musicians and the sound of a changing world.Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Coming Up Part Two: Ignition Part Three: Atmospherics Part Four: Transmissions Epilogue
£21.25
Reaktion Books Henri Matisse
Book SynopsisHenri Matisse’s experiments with form and color revolutionized the twentieth-century art world. In this concise critical biography, Kathryn Brown explores Matisse’s long career, beginning with his struggles as a student in Paris and culminating in his celebrated use of paper cutouts and stained glass in the last decade of his life. The book challenges various myths about Matisse and offers a fresh perspective on his creativity and legacy. Chapters explore the artist’s enthusiasm for fashion and cinema, his travels, personal ties, interest in African art, love of literature, and willingness to challenge audience expectations. Through close readings of Matisse’s works, Brown offers new insight into the artist’s friendships and battles with dealers, critics, collectors, and fellow artists.Trade Review"Effortlessly and engagingly told, a sprightly and readable critical biography. Brown clearly understands that the reason to find out about Matisse is primarily his painting and sculpture, that family, fame, history and culture are the support for this discussion, not the focus." * International Times *"This is a compact and succinct overview of the life and work of renowned French artist Henri Matisse (1869–1954). Brown explores the artist’s life, from his early years struggling in Paris and painting in the fauvist style, to his turn-of-the-century success thanks to the patronage of the Stein family of American collectors (Leo, Sarah, Michael, and Gertrude). The book then follows Matisse’s travels to Morocco and Tahiti; his more abstract work, created during World War I; and his mature years working in the South of France. Brown situates Matisse’s art in relation to his own philosophy about making art, and his contemporary critics, and more recent discourses on the art historical analysis of his work." * Library Journal *"Brown's lucid and sophisticated text presents the great modernist, Henri Matisse, as a highly experimental artist who drew on an exceptionally wide range of visual sources and yet was also a shrewd marketing man, carefully managing his public identity and surrounding himself with a constellation of supportive poets and writers. Bolstered by astute summaries of the current critical debates around Matisse and sensitive formal analyses of the artist's work, Brown's book is the best short biography of Matisse available." -- Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art, Saint Louis Art Museum"An insightful addition to Matisse’s scholarship [and] a true page-turner, written in an engaging style, this study is a multi-layered analysis of Matisse’s career. It focuses on Matisse’s talent to shape his own transnational public image as one of the first internationally famous artists of the twentieth century." -- Véronique Chagnon-Burke, Academic Director, Christie’s Education
£12.34
Reaktion Books Jean Sibelius: Life, Music, Silence
Book SynopsisFew composers have enjoyed such critical acclaim – or longevity – as Jean Sibelius, who died in 1957 aged 91. Always more than simply a Finnish national figure, an ‘apparition from the woods’ as he ironically described himself, Sibelius’s life spanned turbulent and tumultuous events, and his work is central to the story of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century music. This book situates Sibelius within a rich interdisciplinary environment, paying attention to his relationship with architecture, literature, politics and the visual arts. Drawing on the latest developments in Sibelius research, it is intended as an accessible and rewarding introduction for the general reader, and also offers a fresh and provocative interpretation for those more familiar with his music.Trade Review"With a new spring in his step across already familiar ground, Grimley reinvigorates the life-and-works format by vividly placing Sibelius within the ever-shifting artistic and geopolitical landscape of his time, and that of existing scholarship. Grimley’s elegant fusion of 'audible' musicological detail and warm human insight will enrich the academic and general reader alike." -- Hilary Finch, former music critic,Times (UK)"Grimley’s Jean Sibelius: Life, Music, Silence is a concise, balanced, and reader-friendly volume that combines successful biographical study with cultural-historical cross-section and discussion about up-to-date topics in the literature, such as the debate on Sibelius’s political orientation. Extending the examination beyond the standard Sibelius repertoire, the author’s perspective on the composer’s music is fresh and inventive." -- Timo Virtanen, lecturer at Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, editor-in-chief of the Jean Sibelius Works
£24.00
Reaktion Books Leon Battista Alberti: The Chameleon's Eye
Book SynopsisOne of the most brilliant and original authors and architects of the entire Renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti's output encompassed engineering, surveying, cryptography, poetry, humour, political commentary and more. He employed irony, satire and playful allusion in his written works, and developed a sophisticated approach to architecture that combined the ancient and modern. Born into the Florentine elite, Alberti was nonetheless disadvantaged due to exile and illegitimacy. As a result, he became an acute analyst of the social institutions of his time, as well as a profoundly existential writer who was intensely preoccupied with the human condition. This new account explores Alberti's life and works, examining how his personal and intellectual preoccupations continually pushed him to engage with an ever-broader spectrum of Renaissance culture.
£16.16
Reaktion Books Salvator Rosa: Paint and Performance
Book SynopsisPainter, poet and actor Salvator Rosa was one of the most engaging and charismatic personalities of seventeenth-century Italy. Although a gifted landscape painter, he longed to be seen as the pre-eminent philosopher-painter of his age. This new account traces Rosa's strategies of self-promotion, and his creation of a new kind of audience for his art. The book describes the startling novelty of his subject matter - witchcraft and divination, as well as prophecies, natural magic and dark violence - and his early exploration of a nascent aesthetic of the sublime. Salvator Rosa shows how the artist, in a series of remarkable works, responded to new movements in thought and feeling, creating images that spoke to the deepest concerns of his age.
£16.16
John Blake Publishing Ltd Who Killed John Lennon?: The lives, loves and
Book SynopsisLate on 8 December 1980, the world stopped turning for millions when news broke that its best-loved rock star had been gunned down in cold blood in New York City. But who, or what, really killed him? And when did the 'real' John Lennon die?Peeling back the layers, acclaimed music biographer and journalist Lesley-Ann Jones tracks the highs and lows that led Lennon to relocate to New York, where he was shot dead on the street outside his apartment building that fateful winter night. Using fresh first-hand research, unseen images and exclusive interviews with those who knew Lennon best, the author's search for answers in this enthralling exploration offers a gripping, 360-degree view of one of our most iconic music legends, four decades on from his tragic death.There have been countless books about the Beatles and John Lennon. There has never been one quite like this.
£9.49
John Blake Publishing Ltd The Stone Age: Sixty Years of the Rolling Stones
Book Synopsis'However much you thought you knew about The Stones before you read it, afterwards you'll know more. It's glittering' - Simon Napier-Bell'Special [...] it's brilliant' Johnnie WalkerFrom Sunday Times bestselling author Lesley-Ann JonesOn 12 July 1962, the Rollin' Stones performed their first-ever gig at London's Marquee jazz club. Down the line, a 'g' was added, a spark was lit and their destiny was sealed. No going back.These five white British kids set out to play the music of black America. They honed a style that bled bluesy undertones into dark insinuations of women, sex and drugs. Denounced as 'corruptors of youth' and 'messengers of the devil', they created some of the most thrilling music ever recorded. Now, their sound and attitude seem louder and more influential than ever. Elvis is dead and the Beatles are over, but Jagger and Richards bestride the world. The Stones may be gathering moss, but on they roll. Yet how did the ultimate anti-establishment misfits become the global brand we know today? Who were the casualties, and what are the forgotten legacies? Can the artist ever be truly divisible from the art? Lesley-Ann Jones's new history tracks this contradictory, disturbing, granitic and unstoppable band through hope, glory and exile, into the juggernaut years and beyond into rock's ongoing reckoning . . . where the Stones seem more at odds than ever with the values and heritage against which they have always rebelled. Good, bad and often ugly, here are the Rolling Stones as never before.
£17.00
Headline Publishing Group The Little Guide to Cher: If I Could Turn Back
Book SynopsisThere is simply no one like Cher. A mix of street smart, intelligence, talent and beauty, she's the celebrities' favourite celebrity and if you're not a Dolly Parton person, there's no doubt you're Cher obsessed. With six decades of No.1 hits, from Sonny and Cher days to her latest album (number 26) the Gold Dancing Queen in 2018, she's reinvented herself again and again.Turning her hand to serious acting in Silkwood, Mask, Moonstruck, The Witches of Eastwick and more, the multi-talented star had new award-winning film career in the 1980s, but yet again emerged as the 'Goddess of Pop' with dance-oriented pop-rock – and gaining a dedicated tribe of gay followers as a result. From LGBTQ rights to politics, from saving elephants to kitchen discos on TikTok, she's as engaged, relevant and controversial as she ever was – and she has a LOT to say for herself. Here is a collection of the funniest, sharpest, most deadpan quotes you'd expect from this authentic one-of-a-kind star who Time magazine named as 'Twitter's most outspoken (and beloved) commentator'.SAMPLE QUOTE: 'The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing - and then marry him.' – BCC Observer, February 2005Table of ContentsI Got You, Babe: Cher's background and the early days of Sonny and Cher. The One and Only Cher: Becoming Cher. Famously self-effacing, here are her thoughts on her self-image, stage fright and superstardom. Love and Understanding: Romance, love, divorce, family and friends – tracks her headline-grabbing relationships from her split from Sonny to David Geffen, Greg Allman, Val Kilmer, Tom Cruise and 'bagel boy' Robert Camilletti. It's Entertainment: This is all about Cher's amazingly successful music and film career. Believe: Beliefs, values, LGBTQ rights, politics and passions – all the important stuff in life. If I Could Turn Back Time: Her reflections on body image, beauty, fashion, ageing and health.
£7.44
