Biography Books

Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE NONFICTION CROWN AWARD 2024GUARDIAN: BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024''GRIPPING'' THE TIMESThis is an immersive and revelatory history of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade, whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.The Clotilda docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860 more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history.In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda's 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. Survivors follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship's 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee's Bend a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous.An astonishing, deeply compelling tapestry of history, biography and social commentary, Survivors is a tour de force that deepens our knowledge and understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and its far-reaching influence on life today.Trade Review‘Gripping . . . a remarkably wide-ranging book taking in everything from science to soft drinks to show how slavery’s insidious hand wormed its way into the very fabric of American life' The Times 'Hannah Durkin lets the enslaved speak for themselves, and they tell a story not only of unimaginable suffering but also of courage and survival' Wall Street Journal 'Devastating and visceral… Durkin’s exhaustive, exhilarating research has created something new – something personal, emotional, almost tangible – from the history of this collective trauma' Literary Review 'Survivors, a comprehensive account of one of the most important parts of American history, is a triumph’ Booklist (starred review) ‘A sweeping history of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land in America . . . Durkin’s in-depth view is based largely on the survivors’ own words and perspectives (some lived into the 20th century and related their stories to various writers, most notably Zora Neale Hurston), and is woven together with her extensive archival research. It’s a stirring saga of resilience that sheds new light on Black life in postbellum America’ Publishers Weekly (starred review) ‘A highly recommended sweeping saga. Based on a rich archive that includes the survivors’ own stories, one of which became the basis for Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon, this title provides a human history of enslaved people and a portrait of the postbellum South’ Library Journal (starred review) ‘A welcome history of defiance and survival’ Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisLegendary editor Judith Jones, the woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century—including Julia Child, Anne Frank, Edna Lewis, John Updike, and Sylvia Plath—finally gets her due in this “surprising, granular, luminous, and path-breaking biography” (Edward Hirsch, author of How to Read a Poem).At Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones spent most of her time wading through manuscripts in the slush pile and passing on projects—until one day, a book caught her eye. She read it in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing. During her more than fifty years as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf, Jones nurtured the careers of literary icons such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Tyler, and John Updike, and helped laun

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable story of the powerful visionary episodes Stephen Harrod Buhner experienced over half a century ago. The demands that were made for his reformulation of the self, and his subsequent training with the plants of the high Rocky Mountains into their uses as medicines and ecological modulators for planetary health. And as well, his meeting and training with some of the most innovative teachers of the latter half of the twentieth century. This is the most extensive description of visionary experience since that of Black Elk''s in Black Elk Speaks and Manual Cordova Rios''s in Wizard of the Upper Amazon.

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Book SynopsisTHE MOST SUCCESSFUL CAPTAIN IN WORLD RUGBY HISTORY, IN HIS OWN WORDSRichie McCaw, Rugby World Cup winning captain and the New Zealand All Black's most capped player of all time, is unquestionably the greatest player of his generation. He is arguably the most talented player of all time.In his bestselling autobiography, McCaw talks with brutal honesty about the roots of his family life that defined his character and how it gave him the strength to emerge from the lowest moment in his career to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, and become the most successful captain world rugby has ever seen.As the first captain to successfully defend the World Cup, McCaw has set the standard of what a professional rugby player should be. Hugely popular and respected, his sheer presence means that he is a natural leader both on and off the pitch and his story is not just a brutal account of life on the front line, but an exhilarating portrait of modern rugby.Trade Review‘His story is not just a brutal account of life on the front line, but an exhilarating portrait of modern rugby.’'McCaw's book offers an intriguing and unflinching insight into leading the All Blacks in a home World Cup' ‘Beautifully written. Sports bios are usually droll affairs. This one is different.’'McCaw's book offers an intriguing and unflinching insight into leading the All Blacks in a home World Cup'‘Thanks to one of the finer rugby brains of all time and some excellent wording from co-writer Greg McGee, a riveting rugby read it most definitely is.’ ‘Beautifully written. Sports bios are usually droll affairs. This one is different.’‘His story is not just a brutal account of life on the front line, but an exhilarating portrait of modern rugby.’

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Book SynopsisWhen you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we're comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, 'There are no female serial killers'.Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsebet Bathory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction.Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different subject, and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media, as well as the stereotypes and sexist cliches that inevitably surround her. The first book to examine female serial killers through a feminist lens with a witty and dryly humorous tone, Lady Killers dismisses easy explanations (she was hormonal, she did it for love, a man made her do it) and tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch), delving into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, Lady Killers is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness.Trade ReviewTelfer proves that you can stab, poison, and suffocate the predictable tropes about female killers and still write something salacious and entertaining. * Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity *A fascinating, creepy and insightful read that will make you question everything you think you know about the supposedly fairer sex. * Mara Altman, author of Thanks For Coming and Gross Anatomy *

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Book SynopsisShe thought she'd left her past behind.She was wrongDespite a childhood in the care system, Anna Price has beaten the odds and built for herself the perfect life, complete with beautiful seaside home, devoted husband and a job she loves.Then a policeman appears at Anna's door: her estranged brother Henry is a wanted serial killer, and the police need Anna's help to catch him before he strikes again.When an envelope turns up on her doorstep, Anna suddenly finds herself caught in a sick game. One that she remembers all too well from childhood one that, this time, she must win at all costsReaders are obsessing over The Serial Killer's Sister!Loved every second of this. Finished it in 36 hours. And the twistDidn't see that coming!' Real Reader Review, ?????An excellent read with a fantastic jaw-dropping ending.' Real Reader Review, ?????Loved every bit of this book. I thought I knew exactly what was going on but oh how wrong I wasThe story right until the very end is full of surprises.' Real Reader Review, ?????Alice Hunter is the queen of thrillers!' Real Reader Review, ?????The twist at the end is so clever that I was left thinking about it for days after.' Real Reader Review, ?????Twists, turns, revenge, evil, family...so freaking good!!' Real Reader Review, ?????WOW. This was such a page-turner, and I truly didn''t expect that ending.' Real Reader Review, ?????I devoured this book in just one sitting. This is an unputdownable, addictive and gripping read. Hunter has pulled me in and kept me captive until the very last page.' Real Reader Review, ?????A true masterpiece, that ending just keeps on giving, with twist upon twist.' Real Reader Review, ?????WOW WOW WOW. I could''ve read it in one sitting, but I had to restrain myself!' Real Reader Review, ?????Trade Review PRAISE FOR ALICE HUNTER: ‘Another cracking read from Alice Hunter. Compelling intrigue from the queen of page turners.’ Amanda Robson ‘Compelling, twisty and completely consuming. The pace is electric, the story kept me guessing all the way. I literally couldn’t put it down.’ Darren O’Sullivan ‘Wow, what a read! Alice Hunter is the queen of the serial killer thriller.’ J.M. Hewitt ‘A stunning debut … It richly deserves to be a hit.’ Daily Mail ‘The steadily unfurling plot … kept me hooked. The final double twist, too, is well worth waiting for.’ My Weekly ‘This book hooks you in to the drama straight away and does not let you go, even on the last page. Brilliant.’ Sun ‘I am going to go all in and say The Serial Killer’s Wife is one of the best books of 2021.’ Frost Magazine ‘Twisty and suspenseful.’ Jane Corry ‘Absolutely gripping and a brilliant premise – how well does anyone ever know anyone else? Fantastic.’ Catherine Cooper ‘A one-sitting read that absolutely gripped me from the first page.’ C S Green ‘Twisty, turny, tense and so very, very clever.’ Susi Holliday ‘Smart, assured and wickedly twisty.’ Jenny Blackhurst ‘Top end crime fiction, beautifully written and totally mesmerising.’ Amanda Robson ‘A gripping story of secrets, manipulation and power in a quiet Cotswolds village. Terrific!’ Mick Finlay ‘A novel that I was immediately sucked into … Alice Hunter cleverly kept me on my toes as I was desperately trying to work it out.’ Joy Kluver 'Scarily believable – what does go on behind closed doors? It's such a twisty, addictive read, and brilliantly written – highly recommended.' Elisabeth Carpenter

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Book Synopsis'I beseech you to read this account' - Christopher HitchensA magnificent, harrowing testimony to the voiceless victims of North Korea.Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of a North Korean concentration camp to escape the 'hermit kingdom' and tell his story to the world. This memoir reveals the human suffering in his camp, with its forced labour, frequent public executions and near-starvation rations. Kang eventually escaped to South Korea via China to give testimony to the hardships and atrocities that constitute the lives of the thousands of people still detained in the gulags today. Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this story of one young man's personal suffering finally gives eye-witness proof to this neglected chapter of modern history.Trade ReviewOne of the most terrifying memoirs I have ever read. As the first such account to emerge from North Korea, it is destined to become a classic. * Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking *I beseech you to read this account -- Christopher Hitchens

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell’s essay examines the power of language to shape political ideas. It is about the importance of writing concisely, clearly and precisely and the dangers to our ability to think when language, especially political language, is obscured by vague, clichéd phrases and hackneyed metaphors. In it, he argues that when political discourse trades clarity and precision for stock phrases, the debasement of politics follows. First published in Horizon in 1946, Orwell’s essay was soon recognised as an important text, circulated by newspaper editors to their journalists and reprinted in magazines and anthologies of contemporary writing. It continues to be relevant to our own age.

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Book Synopsis'Writing about Queen Victoria has been one of the most joyous experiences of my life. I have read thousands (literally) of letters never before published, and grown used to her as to a friend. Maddening? Egomaniac? Hysterical? A bad mother? Some have said so. What emerged for me was a brave, original woman who was at the very epicentre of Britain's changing place in the world: a solitary woman in an all-male world who understood politics and foreign policy much better than some of her ministers; a person possessed by demons, but demons which she was brave enough to conquer. Above all, I became aware, when considering her eccentric friendships and deep passions, of what a loveable person she was.' A. N. WilsonTrade Review[A] splendid biography - this book is a gem: thoughtful, witty, insightful, striking a balance between political commentary and personal gossip... As this terrific biography shows, there really was a human being behind the gloomy portraits. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Evening Standard *Subtle, thoughtful ... a shimmering and rather wonderful biography -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *Wilson is affectionately alert to the rich contradictions of his subject's personality, and his deliciously readable biography becomes increasingly fascinating as Victoria's reign unfolds. -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail - Book of the Week *This superb revisionist biography is the book that he was born to write. Wilson clearly loves and admires his subject, but this is a critical biography - funny, insightful, original and authoritative. At last Victoria has been rescued from her widow's weeds. -- Jane Ridley * Spectator *A. N. Wilson brings his novelist's perception and immense knowledge of the era to his effervescent biography of the tiny woman (4ft 11in) who ruled Britain for 61 years... This won't be the last biography of Victoria but it is certainly the most interesting and original in a long time. -- Daisy Goodwin * Sunday Times *Ninety-five years ago, the standard was set by Lytton Strachey's lucid and moving Queen Victoria but A. N. Wilson has now raised the bar... And what a pity she never met A. N. Wilson: she shines in his company ... [this] expansive and victorious book. -- Frances Wilson * Daily Telegraph *A. N. Wilson has written a sympathetic but by no means hagiographic biography of her that will probably overturn many people's prejudiced conception of her... Wilson's picture of her is a rounded one, with her vices and virtues. -- Theodore Dalrymple * The Times * A biographer of Queen Victoria also needs to be a good historian, with a confident grasp of the personalities and issues of 19th-century public life. Mr Wilson is at his best here... This is a bracing biography of a bracing woman ... it undeniably achieves its central aim to make us take Queen Victoria more seriously. -- Michael Hall * Country Life *Wilson is an excellent history teacher. He orders and narrates the hugely complex socio-political events and party infighting of the 19th century with a rare clarity... His own achievement, sustained by a lifetime's scholarly fascination with the Victorian era, is also in its way, awesome. -- John Sutherland * Financial Times *Few if any previous biographers have viewed her as incisively and absorbingly as Wilson does in his... smoothly flowing treatment of the queen's long life. The considerable detail he brings to his greatly balanced portrait not only strengthens his estimation of the significance of the queen in British governmental history but also successfully conveys for the general reader all the nuances of character that Wilson so carefully shares. -- Brad Hooper * Booklist, starred review *

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Book SynopsisIn spring 2004, Susan Sontag was diagnosed with the incurable blood cancer. She had a huge appetite for experience, and a wild, extravagant desire to live. Rieff writes movingly about being by her side during that last year and at her death, and about his own contradictory emotions: his guilt both for not consoling her enough, and for somehow colluding with her in her belief that she could beat the disease. Drawing on Sontag's journals and letters, which Rieff read after her death, and on the writings about the deaths of other great thinkers, Swimming in a Sea of Death provides a vivid portrait of Sontag in the last year of her life and a haunting meditation on mortality.

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Book SynopsisA strikingly original exploration of what it might mean to be authentically human in the age of artificial intelligence, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Interior States. • At times personal, at times philosophical, with a bracing mixture of openness and skepticism, it speaks thoughtfully and articulately to the most crucial issues awaiting our future. —Phillip Lopate “[A] truly fantastic book.”—Ezra Klein   For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questio

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Book Synopsis'Gripping' Wall Street Journal________________________At first, gunner Clarence Smoyer and his fellow crewmen in the legendary 3rd Armored Division - 'Spearhead' - thought their tanks were invincible. Then they met the German Panther, with a gun so murderous it could shoot through one Sherman and into the next. Soon a pattern emerged: the lead tank always gets hit. After seeing his friends cut down breaching the West Wall and holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, Clarence and his crew are given a weapon with the power to avenge their fallen brothers: the Pershing, a state-of-the-art 'super tank', one of twenty in the European theatre. But with it comes a harrowing new responsibility: now they will spearhead every attack and, in doing so, will lead the US Army into its largest urban battle of the war, the fight for Cologne, the 'Fortress City' of Germany...'Spearhead shimmers in eclipsing moments of valor, luck and compassion.' Washington TimesTrade ReviewMakos drops the reader back into the Pershing's turret and dials up a battle scene to rival the peak moments of Fury. . . Brilliant . . . Gripping * Wall Street Journal *A detailed, gripping account . . . the remarkable story of two tank crewmen, from opposite sides of the conflict, who endure the grisly nature of tank warfare. * USA Today *Spearhead shimmers in eclipsing moments of valor, luck and compassion. A gripping read. * Washington Times *A compelling, exciting adventure of a hard-driving American force. * Kirkus Reviews *This moving story of bravery and comradeship is an important contribution to WWII history that will inform and fascinate both the general reader and the military historian. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *The engrossing book is a war story and a mystery. * CNN.com *Table of Contents0: Introduction 1: The Gentle Giant 2: Baptism 3: "Bubi" 4: The Fields 5: The Foray 6: Beyond the Wall 7: Respite 8: The Fourth Tank 9: Hope 10: Something Bigger 11: America's Tiger 12: Two Miles 13: Hunting 14: The Fire Department of the West 15: Going First 16: Victory or Siberia 17: The Monster 18: The Conquerors 19: The Breakout 20: The American Blitz 21: The Fatherless 22: Family 23: Come Out and Fight 24: The Giant 25: Getting Home 26: The Last Battle

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Book Synopsis''A compelling personal account of the dramas of a singular British band'' Neil TennantThe trajectory of Suede - hailed in infancy as both ''The Best New Band in Britain'' and ''effete southern wankers'' - is recalled with moving candour by its frontman Brett Anderson, whose vivid memoir swings seamlessly between the tender, witty, turbulent, euphoric and bittersweet. Suede began by treading the familiar jobbing route of London''s emerging new 1990s indie bands - gigs at ULU, the Camden Powerhaus and the Old Trout in Windsor - and the dispiriting experience of playing a set to an audience of one. But in these halcyon days, their potential was undeniable. Anderson''s creative partnership with guitarist Bernard Butler exposed a unique and brilliant hybrid of lyric and sound; together they were a luminescent team - burning brightly and creating some of the era''s most revered songs and albums.In Afternoons with the Blinds drawn, Anderson unflinchingly explores his relationship with addiction, heartfelt in the regret that early musical bonds were severed, and clear-eyed on his youthful persona. ''As a young man . . . I oscillated between morbid self-reflection and vainglorious narcissism'' he writes. His honesty, sharply self-aware and articulate, makes this a compelling autobiography, and a brilliant insight into one of the most significant bands of the last quarter century.Trade ReviewAnderson writes with a combination of guarded introspection and detachment . . . he conjures a cracked and confused persona, fumbling his way through a bizarre early adulthood, by turns gleefully hedonistic and wantonly self-destructive, hardworking and profligate, egotistical and insecure, a character more likely to be seen shuffling around in a dressing-grown smoking fags and staring out the window than prancing on the stage . . . Afternoons With the Blinds Drawn is another milestone in a flourishing latterday career * Guardian *A compelling personal account of the dramas of a singular British band -- Neil TennantTrue to his word, this is another music book that steers away from the expected . . . it has a brazen confidence and it's rarely dull. As such, Afternoons With the Blinds Down is a worthy successor to Coal Black Mornings -- Ed Potton * The Times *Honest and lyrical . . . Anderson, in his lyrics, has always been fantastic at capturing the sleaze of underground city living and he does the same here . . . Anderson's writing is as he is in real life: sharp, unsparing and sensitive -- Miranda Sawyer * Observer *You're unlikely to read another music autobiography quite as honestly reflective as this one * Sunday Express *Thanks to his thoughtful analysis of those wild times, Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn lets in a lot of light -- Victoria Segal * Sunday Times *A refreshing corrective to the Britpop narrative . . . Reading it is a bit like being inside a Suede song itself. Which is maybe a mark of the strength of Anderson's vision . . . The pages reek of stale cigarette ash, rising damp and mouldy grouting . . . the book offers the singer's own nuanced take on pop and success * Herald *The story of Suede's rise and fall, the drugs and the feuds with other bands isn't pretty, but Anderson is on typically sharp form as he tells it * Telegraph *Anderson stopped his enchanting first memoir, Coal Black Mornings, just short of the band's brilliant early 1990s breakthrough. Here, he handles their operatic rise and fall with the same thoughtful grace, picking through the paraphernalia of addiction, fame and ego with self-lacerating honesty and a lyrical eye for time and place * Sunday Times *Poetic atmosphere (and good writing) are favoured over dirty detail * The Times *Anderson maintains dignity with thoughtful prose and doesn't drop names, but after his childhood recollections in last year's Coal Black Mornings, this is the period that will fascinate fans the most * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisThe real Master and Commander 'There is no man I envy so much as Lord Cochrane' Lord ByronTrade Review'The real Master and Commander' Sunday Telegraph 'Cordingly is a brilliant historian' Daily Telegraph 'Intriguing and satisfying ... Cochrane packed enough drama and history to shame both Horatio Nelson and Sir Francis Drake ... O'Brian fans will find great satisfaction in smoking out similarities and differences between Cochrane and Aubrey' Washington Post 'By rights, Thomas Cochrane should be as well known today as Francis Drake ... Cochrane's adventures in Chile, Peru and Brazil are among the most amazing in naval history' Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERStranger Than Kindness is a journey in images and words into the creative world of musician, storyteller and cultural icon Nick Cave.This highly collectable book invites the reader into the innermost core of the creative process and paves the way for an entirely new and intimate meeting with the artist, presenting Cave's life, work and inspiration and exploring his many real and imagined universes. It features full colour reproductions of original artwork, handwritten lyrics, photographs and collected personal artefacts along with commentary and meditations from Nick Cave, Janine Barrand and Darcey Steinke.Stranger Than Kindness asks what shapes our lives and makes us who we are, and celebrates the curiosity and power of the creative spirit.The book has been developed and curated by Nick Cave in collaboration with Christina Back. The images were selected from 'Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition', opening at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen in June 2020.Trade ReviewA scrapbook of rarely seen photos and sketches traces Nick Cave's transformation from Aussie teenager into an international artist . . . It takes on a life of its own, revealing his often compulsive way of working, as well as his abiding interests and obsessions: desire, faith, sin, despair, redemption, grief, love, and the transformative thrust of language itself * * Observer * *Goes deep into Cave's creative process, via his artwork, lyrics and photographs, and his ever-succinct commentary * * Guardian, 5 of the best * *A carefully curated collection of artwork, handwritten lyrics, photographs, personal possessions and essays, Stranger Than Kindness is a proper deep-dive into the story and creative processes of Nick Cave * * NME, Best Music Books of the Year * *[Takes] us on a detailed journey into his creative psyche. It features everything from school reports and scribbled shopping lists to lyric sheets and handwritten dictionaries - "the secret and unformed property of the artist," as Cave puts it * * Evening Standard, Best Music Books of the Year * *The material evidence of Cave's creative life. [There is] an excellent introduction from Darcey Steinke . . . a book of beauty and understated style . . . The book serves best as an invitation to explore Cave's work further, whether one is a novice or a committed celebrant. It is worth the effort * * Herald * *Features [Cave's] lurid, bizarre, beautiful, touching artwork and handmade books [and] an exquisite, winding essay by the American novelist Darcey Steinke. The essay is, simply put, extraordinary . . . Steinke has otherworldly gifts . . . I bought an expensive art book from a musician I like; what I got was a kind of compass leading me through a weird and often bleak time * * VICE * *A fascinating read, doubly so when listening to Cave perform the songs his obsessive evidence-gathering informs * * The Times * *Magnificent . . . A visual history of Cave's life, it's annotated by him with the same warmth and wit that have made his Red Hand Files series of letters to his fans so special. As for the images, they give more insight into the workings of his mind than any interview could . . . Darcey Steinke [has] written a fascinating and scholarly essay on Cave's work that sets him alongside some of literature's greatest figures . . . Exhaustive, gorgeous and thoughtful, this book of treasures will delight and inspire any admirer of Cave's work * * Classic Rock * *Offer[s] an access-all-areas peek into his life's work, featuring lyrics, essays, set designs, artwork, personal notes, previously-unseen photos and more * * Q Magazine * *Nick Cave's fans have long deserved a book that offers a long-view perspective on him and his work, and Stranger Than Kindness more than fulfils on its promise. The book collates a - carefully considered and curated - scattershot of artistic imagery, original lyric drafts, scrapbooks, and a few literary influences . . . [There is an] insightful and searching essay from Darcey Steinke . . . Stranger Than Kindness both embodies and enriches our understanding of how Nick Cave the artist came to be, and illuminates why his music continues to matter to so many * * HeadStuff * *

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Book Synopsis'Not just a readable, pacey account of an extraordinary individual and his quixotic quest but also a troubling exposé of the fragility of our entire financial system I loved it'Oliver Bullough, author of MoneylandFor fans of Bad Blood and The Big Short, the story of how one reclusive trading prodigy manipulated Wall Street and amassed millions from his childhood bedroom then short-circuited the global market.A real-life financial thriller, Flash Crash gives panoramic insight into our economic landscape its weaknesses, its crooks and its exploitable loopholes and uncovers the remarkable, behind-the-scenes narrative of a mystifying market crash, a globe-spanning investigation into international fraud, and the man Navinder Singh Sarao at the centre of it all.Depending on whom you ask, Sarao was a scourge, a symbol of a financial system run horribly amok, or a folk hero: an outsider who took on the tyranny of Wall Street and the high-frequency traders.Trade Review Longlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2020 ‘The U.K.'s pre-eminent chronicler of financial crime’ New Yorker ‘This is not just a readable, pacey account of an extraordinary individual … but also a troubling exposé of the fragility of our entire financial system … I loved it’Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland ‘The definitive account of one of the most mysterious events in the recent history of financial markets …Tells the irresistible personal tale of the unlikely character—finance whiz, social misfit, brazen cheater, folk hero, fraud victim—who finds himself at the centre of a vast global scandal’David Enrich ‘A fascinating journey through the heart of the financial markets and the battle between man and machine’Bradley Hope ‘An elegant and fast-paced narrative … Through meticulous reporting and a gripping story, Vaughan has filled in many of the missing pieces. You won’t be able to put it down.’William D. Cohan ‘A cautionary tale of the fragilities baked into the financial system … An engaging history lesson on the evolution of modern trading … And it is a pacy account that swings from humour to horror of a vulnerable man who is out of his depth … Compelling’Financial Times ‘An extremely well-researched and clearly written book’Spectator ‘Extraordinary … vivid detail … The real bandits are still out there, cloaked in political cover and respectability yet rigging the markets at scale’Wall Street Journal ‘So compelling … He brings out the moral subtleties. It isn’t a simple story of good versus evil … Tells the story beautifully’Daily Mail, Book of the Week ‘A magnificently detailed yet pacy narrative. Think Trading Places meets Wall Street … Vaughan achieves something even more remarkable. He makes you sympathise … Meticulous reporting’Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisNow an eight-part docuseries on Apple TV+ featuring Kim Kardashian, Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Wanda Sykes, Megan Thee Stallion and more She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. “Go ahead, ask your question,” her father urged, nudging her forward. She smiled shyly and said, “You’re my hero. Who’s yours?”  Many people – especially girls – have asked us that same question over the years. It’s one of our favourite topics. HILLARY: Growing up, I knew hardly any women who worked outside the home. So I looked to my mother, my teachers, and the pages of Life magazine for inspiration. After learning that Amelia Earhart kept a scrapbook with newspaper articles about successful women in male-dominated jobs, I started a scrapbook of my own. Long after I stopped clipping articles, I continued to seek out stories of women who seemed to be redefini

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Book SynopsisWe live in a world that prizes the fast over the slow, the new over the familiar and work over rest. Birds Art Life Death is Kyo Maclear's beautiful journey to stake out a sense of meaning amid the crushing rush.One winter Kyo Maclear felt unmoored. Her father had recently fallen ill and she suddenly found herself a little lost. In the midst of this crisis, she met a musician who loved birds. When he watched birds and began to photograph them, his worries dissipated. Curious, she began to accompany him on his urban birdwatching expeditions and witnessed the magic of a transient city. Birds Art Life Death asks how we might gain perspective and overcome our anxieties by learning to cherish the urban wild spaces in which we live. Kyo urges us to find a subtle but restorative meaning in the everyday.Trade Review‘Original, charming, a little eccentric even. This book is a delight’ Nigel Slater ‘A literary jewel box … [Maclear's] tiny gems of thought are borne of purposeful waiting, quietude and reflection … Maclear's book is appealing in its appreciation of non-human nature in the midst of city life, agnosticism about the place of human activity in the midst of nature's rhythms and exploration of the relationship between captivity and freedom’ Publishers Weekly ‘A meditation on freedom and confinement and the creative tension between the two. … The simple precision of Maclear’s prose belies the depth, as if the book were the tip of the iceberg and what she has elided or omitted constitutes the rest. Writers and others will find inspiration in the advice to stop and hear the birds’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Intricate and delicate as birdsong, Kyo Maclear’s clear-eyed observations of the natural world and our place in it challenge the velocity of modern life. A year spent birding is a year spent in passionate introspection. As she discovers beauty in urban cityscape, she leads us to turn fresh eyes to our surroundings. Her beloved birds become messengers of both loss and hope’ Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way ‘A beautifully crafted memoir that elevates the ordinary with intelligence and humility’ Leslie Feist, musician ‘Maclear’s writing is fresh and focused. If you’ve ever felt any of the emotions she discusses – worry for one’s parents, feeling stuck, feeling insignificant, feeling lost – there will be a passage in this book that will resonate’ Emerald Street

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Book SynopsisThe definitive and authorised biography of the artist Vanessa Bell. Even through the lens of the twenty-first century, the story of Vanessa Bell’s life is unorthodox. A powerful magnetic figure, Bell lived at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group and was often the core figure around which the disparate individuals of the movement revolved. Her art and designs – so often overshadowed by her sister Virginia Woolf’s writings and fame and by the interest in her own unconventional life – made a significant contribution to the history of the Bloomsbury Group. Yet, until this authorised biography was written, she has remained a largely silent and enigmatic figure. In this captivating account, acclaimed art historian and biographer Frances Spalding restores Bell to the heart of the Bloomsbury Group, illuminating an exceptional life and the free-spirited circle among which she lived.Table of ContentsList of Plates Preface to New Edition Preface Acknowledgements Always the Eldest 1879–1895 Mrs Young’s Evening Dress 1895–1904 Changing Places 1904–1906 Mr and Mrs Clive Bell 1907–1909 Petticoats over Windmills 1910–1912 Asheham 1912–1914 Granite and Rainbow 1914–1916 One Among Three 1916–1918 At Home and Abroad 1919–1926 Charleston in France 1927–1930 High Yellow 1930–1934 Between Bloomsbury and China 1935–1937 Bitter Odds 1937–1945 The Attic Studio 1945–1961 Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSkinny's Book of the Year, 2018In 1990, Myles chose Rosie from a litter on the street, and their connection instantly made an indelible impact on the writer's way of being. Over the course of sixteen years together, Myles was devoted to the pit bull and their linked quality of life. And starting from the emptiness following Rosie's death, Afterglow launches a playful and incisive investigation into the mostly mutually beneficial, sometimes reprehensible power dynamics between pet and pet-owner. At the same time, it reimagines Myles's experiences with alcoholism and recovery, intimacy and mourning, celebrity and politics, spirituality and family history, while joyously transcending the parameters of memoir.Moving from an imaginary talk show where Rosie is interviewed by Myles's childhood puppet, to a critical reenactment of the night Rosie mated with another pit bull; from shimmering poetic transcriptions of video footage taken during their walks, to Rosie's final enlightened narration from the afterlife, this totally singular text combines elements of science fiction, screenplay, monologue, and lucid memory to get to the heart of how and why we dedicate our existence to our dogs.Trade ReviewA ravishingly strange and gorgeous book about a dog that's really about life and everything there is, Eileen Myles's Afterglow is a truly astonishing creation. -- Helen Macdonald, author of H IS FOR HAWKReading Afterglow is like entering the company of a sensibility that is rich, original, witty, and tonally brilliant. It is the darting asides, the phrasing and the subplots that matter most in this book, that give pure, sheer constant pleasure. -- Colm TóibínOnly Eileen Myles could reinvent the memoir again so stunningly; Afterglow is the sort of multidimensional love story you could only expect from one of our greatest experimental writers living today! -- Porochista Khakpour, author of THE LAST ILLUSIONMyles is often referred to as an 'institution' - the way one speaks of a terrific restaurant that's endured the waves of gentrification as a 'New York institution.' But the word bounces off her: there is nothing official about her, nothing staid or still. -- Ben Lerner * Paris Review *Eileen Myles is a New York poet, maybe the New York poet, a swaggering troubadour of casually roving brilliance...a work of surpassing strangeness that takes the form of an elegy for a lost pet and converts it into a weird and agitated philosophical inquiry. -- Olivia Laing * Guardian *Part of Myles's enduring appeal is that she's experimental in the true sense of the word; every time you turn around, she's up to something different . . . People have started using the word legend when talking about her life and work. * New York Magazine *What is a dog if not god? In Afterglow, Eileen Myles steps up to the challenge for writers to function as prophets. Ghostwritten in part by deceased pit bull Rosie, this 'dog memoir' explores - among other things - geometry, gender, mortality, evil, ageing, and plaids. Myles makes new rules for what prose writing can be. Afterglow is Myles's funniest, profoundest work yet. -- Chris Kraus, author of I LOVE DICKMyles forces a cultural and a literary reckoning with her life on her own terms, demanding understanding, the text held to the reader's throat. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Wildly inventive and just plain wild, feral, even, Eileen Myles's dazzling Afterglow is about a dog, and her owner, and everything else in life, and also death, too. -- Jami Attenberg, author of ALL GROWN UPChelsea Girls offers poetry, sex, Catholicism, drugs, class and sexuality. This new reprint... is the missing data for anyone who has read only the male American beat writers. -- Deborah Levy * New Statesman *Everything Eileen Myles touches turns to poetry. Whether called a dog or a cat, it's always poetry. Emily Dickinson famously decided that poetry was anything that made her 'feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off.' I can imagine Emily Dickinson writing an ecstatic blurb for Myles's tender, trippy, deep, yet humanely silly new gift to the world: Afterglow. In this age of fake news and even fake poetry, trust this voice! -- Brad Gooch, author of SMASH CUT...offers a wide and empathetic embrace. [...] It is, unexpectedly, a book for the times. * Frieze *

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Book SynopsisTHE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERA GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES, IRISH TIMES, SUNDAY EXPRESS, ROUGH TRADE, MOJO, CLASH, ROLLING STONE, UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEARFrom award-winning musician and composer Warren Ellis comes the unexpected and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum. FEATURING AN INTRODUCTION BY NICK CAVEI hadn't opened the towel that contained her gum since 2013. The last person to touch it was Nina Simone, her saliva and fingerprints unsullied. The idea that it was still in her towel was something I had drawn strength from. I thought each time I opened it some of Nina Simone's spirit would vanish. In many ways that thought was more important than the gum itself.On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave''s Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warre

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Book SynopsisNon-fans regard Celine Dion as ersatz and plastic, yet to those who love her, no one could be more real, with her impoverished childhood, her manager-husband's struggle with cancer, her knack for howling out raw emotion. This book documents author's brave and unprecedented year-long quest to find his inner Celine Dion fan.Trade Review"Let's Talk" about one of the most interesting music books you'll read this year... The always critical and erudite Mr. Wilson actually approached Let's Talk About Love as a non-fan grappling with questions of "good" and "bad" taste... It's almost certainly the only installment in the series to discuss French-Canadian race relations, rockism, and Milan Kundera's thoughts on kitsch. * Idolator.com *This could be the best book of the series...razor-sharp and unerringly intelligent. -- John Wenzel * The Denver Post *This book seriously explores the wide divide between mainstream pop that is mass-marketed and purchased, and the critics who usually sneer at it for those very reasons. It's a heady work that examines everything from 'reductive Marxist theories of culture' to why critics value restrained singing while 'American Idol' fans embrace 'show-offy' technical power. -- Mike Weatherfork * Las Vegas Review Journal *A book pondering the aesthetics of Céline risks going wrong in about 3,000 different ways...Instead, this book goes very deeply right. -- Sam Anderson * New York Magazine *Let's Talk About Love is a rigorous, perceptive and very funny meditation on what happens when you realize that there's more to life than being hip, and begin to grapple with just what that "more" might be. * Montreal Gazette *A bit of a departure for Continuum's 33 1/3 series exploring classic records...readers of the dizzingly dweeby intellectualizing that often makes Wilson's blog an exhausting pleasure to read will not be surprised that, for him, a discussion of the love theme from Titanic must encompass an examination of Quebecois culture, the history of parlour entertainment as it relates to the immigrant experience, the philosophies of Hume and Kant and the sociological experiments of Pierre Bordieu. -- Edward Keenan * Eye Weekly *Blending pop culture, cultural history, music criticism with Wilson's eclectic sensibility, the book is a fascinating look at how highbrow, middlebrow and nobrow rub meaningful observations along the way, moving on to the next without ever belabouring a point. The book is clever without the writer himself ever coming across as trying to be clever...It's like having an interesting conversation with a friend whose opinions you respect. * Toronto Star Online, November 2009 *This erudite and eye-opening book attempts to explore not only Dion's polarizing appeal but also the very concept of "taste." Along the way, Wilson traces his loathing for Dion back to her Oscars performance alongside Elliott Smith, examines the meaning of "schmaltz" and Dion's French-Canadian roots, meets her adoring fans, sees her Vegas show, reviews the album (it's the one with that Titanic song), and analyzes theories on taste from David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre Bourdieu (turns out social distinction plays a big part). By the end, Wilson has set the blueprint for a kind of music criticism that "might put less stock in defending its choices and more in depicting its enjoyment, with all its messiness and private soul tremors-- to show what it is like for me to like it, and invite you to compare." In other words, let's talk about love. * Pitchfork feature "Our 60 Favorite Music Books" *Erudite and eye-opening. * Pitchfork's "Our 60 Favorite Music Books" feature *I teach in a university drama programme and I plan to integrate the book into our first-year Critical Theories course as a way to introduce students to principles of aesthetics, and to the discourse around pop/high culture. It's difficult to make Kantian aesthetics accessible to 18 year olds. Let's Talk About Love is a rare instance of the transmission of complex and sophisticated ideas in language that is accessible without being dumbed-down. -- Karen Fricker, Lecturer in Contemporary Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of LondonLet's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste offers a rare combination of compelling research and enormously entertaining writing, a real find for students of popular culture. It's a compact little volume packed with keen insights into the ideologies that have shaped music criticism and scholarship, thought-provoking commentary on problems of aesthetics, and sensitive reflexive analysis. That reflexivity, along with a careful balance of critical theory and field research, makes this work particularly appropriate for courses with an ethnomusicological angle. And as ethnomusicologists continue to cultivate a growing sub-field in popular music studies, Let's Talk About Love is a timely and valuable resource. -- Katherine Meizel, Lecturer in Ethnomusicology,University of California, Santa BarbaraWritten keenly and with great generosity. * Idolator, 24 December 2008 *The book [is] an engaging and intelligent study of taste and critiism framed by Celine Dion's tragic music. * EyeWeekly, 24 February 2009 *...a brilliant read and a total eye-opener. Unlike other contributors, Wilson doesn't shore up another crumbling wall of the canon but dives into a world of kitsch to ask what makes us hate music. How can we know that 'bad' music really is bad, and what is taste anyway? It'll shake all your critical certainties, which is not a very good idea when you're in my line of work. * The Word Magazine *Mention in Today's Books * BookweekThe A-List *Wilson covers a lot of ground in his 161-page quest; the second half of the book reads like a Cultural Studies power ballad, invoking Roland Barthes, Theodor Adorno, Immanuel Kant, Clement Greenberg, Arthur C. Danto, and scores of other contemporary critics in rapid succession. Perhaps most impressively, Wilson condenses French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's mammoth (and seminal) tome Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste into one spry little chapter. * Rain Taxi *It's said there's no accounting for taste, but Canadian music critic Carl Wilson certainly makes a Herculean effort in this latest entry in Continuum's 33 1/3 series...En route, Wilson finds plenty of fellow detractors, generously hashes out a lengthy definition of "schmaltz," and drags Elliott Smith, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Clement Greenberg, Pierre Bourdieu, and a gaggle of shameless starry-eyed Dion fanatics into his intellectual and aesthetic morass. -- Raymond Cummings * Baltimore City Paper *'Morally you could fairly ask', Wilson writes, 'what is more laudable about excess in the name of rage and resentment than immoderation in thrall to love and connection?' That is, indeed, a fair and moral question, and it leads Wilson to wonder 'if anyone's tastes stand on solid ground, starting with mine.' He doesn't reach any definite conclusions, but the conversation he carries on through the centuries with everyone from philosophers David Hume and Immanuel Kant to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, is by turns enlightening, provocative and unexpectedly moving. Wilson aptly calls Let's Talk About Love 'an experiment in taste,' and maybe as much as anything else, the book argues that such an experiment is one we'd all do well to conduct. -- David Cantwell * No Depression *The 33 1/3 of pocket books ... are superb little volumes devoted to classic albums. What unites them is not so much their subject as the standard of the writing and imagination that the authors have brought to their task... every one I've read has been well worth the attention. Wilson's approach to Celine Dione, however, stands out ... Clever and witty. -- Keith Bruce * The Herald (Glasgow), Saturday 8th March 2008. *Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste is Canadian journalist Carl Wilson's Celine Dion contribution to Continuum's inspired 33 1/3 series of short books ... Music criticism is often just guy-world. Wilson is the real thing. I can't praise this small book enough. Smart, but humane. -- Heather Wilson * CBC, Monday 25th February 2008. *It's fascinating stuff...By turns hilarious and heartwarming. -- Dave Stelfox * Guardian Unlimited Arts blog *Mention on Offbeat.com -- Alex RawlsCarl Wilson was interviewed by The Onion's A.V. Club -- Steven HydenFramed by an irresistible concept...Wilson turns the [33 1/3] series on its head by seriously considering a blockbuster hit by Celine Dion. -- Christopher Gray * Portland Phoenix *Wilson's approach to Celine Dion...stands out. Wilson examines why he loathes it, its creator and everything about her-- and what inspires devotion in her bast army of followers around the world...Clever and witty, it almost make me seek out the album. But not quite. -- Keith Bruce * The Herald, Glasgow *Constantly interesting and thought-provoking...and I think he can teach us a few valuable things about criticism, for what it's worth. -- John Mulvey * Uncut, UK *I still don't like what I know of Dion's music and probably never will. But Wilson's efforts to examine the rote critical assumption that Celine Dion's music blows digs up all kinds of fascinating issues about the nature of taste and the hierarchy of pop culture. * Bohemian.com *An insightful, engaging and unexpectedly moving book. -- Jason Anderson * Globe and Mail *Brilliant. -- Alex Ross, author of The Rest is NoiseConsistently thought provoking. -- Matthew Siblo * Express: A Publication of The Washington Post *This book is especially interesting on Dion's background... His book is intelligent and often moving. * The Daily Telegraph *In perhaps the most erudite and humane book of criticism ever written, Let’s Talk About Love, the music journalist Carl Wilson brilliantly used Celine Dion’s album of the same name to discuss the subjective nature of good taste and to try to understand what makes Dion so world-dominatingly popular. * The Daily Beast *Music criticism is often just guy-world. Wilson's the real thing. I can't praise this small book enough. Smart, but humane. -- Heather Mallick * CBC News: Analysis and Viewpoint *By exploring taste, kitsch, culture, fans, the state of contemporary criticism, Quebec nationalism, and economics in Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, Carl Wilson manages to produce one of the most interesting and erudite books on why people love and hate certain kinds of art...Readers will find themselves evaluating their views on arts with added scrutiny after reading this surprising and provocative book. * Hipster Book Club *A wide-ranging book, one predicated on the possibility that what repels us may say more about us than what attracts us...[an] insightful, engaging, and unexpectedly moving book. -- Jason Anderson * The Globe and Mail *An important study- not just of Dion and pop music but also of the changing nature of criticism in the popular realm. -- Andy Battaglia * Bookforum *As refreshing a music book I have read in a long time. -- David Gutowski * Largehearted Boy, Book Notes *An illustration of the best side of music criticism. * Erasing Clouds *Wilson uses Dion's record as a crowbar, and pries open the assumptions and prejudices which shape our tastes in the first place. Despite our preconceptions surrounding Wilson's ostensible subject (or perhaps, because of them), the results are subtle, and startling enough to give the most jaded of readers pause. -- Alex Abramovich * Flavorpill NYC *The ironic subtitle attached to Wilson’s tome signaled the departure it marked from the series’ usual fare. His subject, Celine Dion, was in the eyes music criticism’s orthodoxy, the antithesis of the celebrated artist, and, accordingly, Wilson presented his work as a challenge, to himself and others, to approach her with fresh ears. -- Leela Ginelle * PQ Monthly *The most unlikely album made the best 33 1/3: Celine Dion isn’t usually afforded the same respect as a Bob Dylan or a Joni Mitchell, but Carl Wilson uses her populist art and personal history to ask questions about class, taste, and race in an effort to figure out how one of the most popular singers in the world could be loved and hated in equal measure. The answers he finds aren’t always comfortable, but that only makes them more important and crucial to criticism in the 21st century. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *

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Book Synopsis''Nobody owes us anything, but the Simple Minds story has been too condensed. After Live Aid and ''Don''t You (Forget About Me)'' there hasn''t been quite the credit for those first few records. I think they contain some really special music. I can hear the flaws but there''s something about the spirit and imagination in them that feels good. They draw from such a wide range of influences . . . but the spirit of it was always Simple Minds.'' Jim Kerr, to the author An illuminating new biography of one of Britain''s biggest and most influential bands, written with the full input and cooperation of Simple Minds, shedding new light on their dazzling art-rock legacy. Themes for Great Cities features in-depth new interviews with original band members Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Mick MacNeil and Derek Forbes, alongside key figures from within their creative community and high-profile fans such as Bobby Gillespie, James Dean Bradfield and Mogwai''s StuTrade ReviewA deep and thrilling dive into some of the greatest musical minds to have come out of Scotland in modern times * Ian Rankin *The definitive biography of this most mercurial of bands. Thomson knows how to take it apart - without demystifying the mystery, he gives us the art school band that never had an art school, but went instead on an endless adventure and took a bit of all of us with them * Alan Warner *A biography that gives the group its long-overdue credit. Thomson's exquisitely written account reaches poetic levels . . . An eye-opening work throughout, Themes for Great Cities may be the final word on Kerr and Co's legacy * Classic Pop *Brings fresh insight into the early albums in particular. Any music biog which sends you straight to the records themselves is doing its job * Alistair Braidwood, Scots Whay Hae *For anyone who is newer to the Simple Minds fold or hasn't explored their back catalogue extensively, I implore you to read this book. For the die hards - you need this book! It is a fast and exhilarating ride * Larelle Read, Priptona Weird (Simple Minds fansite) *[The] mission here is to "remystify" Simple Minds. It's a wholly successful endeavour . . . Thomson's enthusiasm for tracing the cultural and geographical roots of Simple Minds is infectious, and the result shines a bright light into the forgotten corners of the band's story -- Tom Doyle * MOJO *Excellent . . . shows how the five-piece Simple Minds found their place -- Jim Wirth * Uncut *Thomson expertly handles proceedings . . . best of all is the coverage of the epic early albums, which all too often seemed to be forgotten as soon as the mega stardom called * Electronic Sound *Music has such a capacity to uplift, to inspire, to recognise, to connect, and Graeme Thomson's latest book explores how the work of Simple Minds captures those possibilities * Books From Scotland *In focusing largely on their pre-stardom records ... Thomson elegantly reminds us how Simple Minds influenced Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers and contemporaries U2. **** * Mail on Sunday *An essential read * Echoes & Dust *An engaging, insightful, and welcome biography and history of one of Scotland's greatest bands ... it'll make you return to those glorious early albums and fall in love with them all over again - the ultimate accolade for any music biography * Product *One of the (many) pleasures of ... Themes for Great Cities is its desire to be an act of reclamation. Thomson wants to challenge the lazy cliches that have attached to the band's reputation, to complicate the story, to, as he says in his introduction, "remystify" his subject * The Herald *Themes for Great Cities is so taut and so full of cliff-hangers, that it reads more like a thriller. It's exactly the sort of book that Simple Minds deserve. * Prog *Thomson's thesis is sound: for about five years, Scotland's biggest ever band made exceptional music, and there's no better man to tell you all about it. * Hot Press, Music Book of the Month *Truly a story of 'ambition in motion' . . . There are a number of passages that almost uncannily mirror the music, where the narrative and inner vision perfectly align . . . In some ways Simple Minds' early music is a perfect secret waiting to be rediscovered. * Quietus *I couldn't read this book without digging out my old vinyl and listening as I read. It was like listening with new ears . . . utterly inspiring. * Louder Than War *

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Book SynopsisAims to unearth the life story of the creator of The Leopard, one of the novels of the twentieth century. This book stands as a meditation on what it is that makes a writer.

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Book SynopsisThe Enormously Entertaining Memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time—Now a New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller. In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure. This is the hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time. Trade Review“A lively tale of growing up lower-middle-class in Brooklyn; a gossipy account of scrambling up the comedy ladder from tabloid gag writer to Oscar winner . . . This memoir is for the most part a pleasure to read and entertaining company. . . . You’d have to be a real sourpuss not to laugh at the fusillade of one-liners, two-liners, three-liners and so on.”—Peter Biskind, Los Angeles Times “He has an authentic and easygoing voice on the page.”—New York Times “It’s a fantastic book, so funny. . . . You feel like you’re in the room with him and yeah, it’s just a great book and it’s hard to walk away after reading that book thinking that this guy did anything wrong.”—Larry David “An absolute delight, hilarious and endearing and glistening with stardust.”—National Review“Master, from youth, at self-deprecating humor, and born with New York City cojones, Allen says what others just think, controversy be damned.”—New York Journal of Books “It was a laugh a minute.”—Newark Star-Ledger"An enjoyable excursion into the mind, personality, and delicious whimsy of Woody Allen . . . one of our finest filmmakers and a man of droll wit, who came of age as an artist in the 1970s, just in time for his unique combination of cynicism and romanticism, as old gods died and new ones failed to appear."—Jim Delmont, Omaha Dispatch “His wit is on full display.”—The Federalist “A brisk, vivid, and extremely funny account..”—Commentary Magazine “Allen’s style is gossipy and spry.”—The Guardian “Brilliant.”—Deadline"If you love Woody Allen, you’ll love the book."—Sam Wasson, Air Mail

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Book SynopsisIn the seventies, when he was just 20 years old, David Cassidy achieved the sort of teen idol fame that is rarely seen. He was mobbed everywhere he went. His clothes were regularly ripped off by adoring fans. He sold records the world over. He was bigger than Elvis. And all thanks to a hit TV show called The Partridge Family. Now, in his own words, this is a brutally frank account of those mindblowing days of stardom in which being David Cassidy played second fiddle to being Keith Partridge. Including stories of sex, drugs and rock''n''roll that explode the myth of Cassidy as squeaky clean, it''s also the story of how to keep on living life and loving yourself when the fickle fans fall away.

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Book SynopsisModoc, the elephant, and Bram, his faithful companion and trainer, formed a bond that lasted their entire lives. Late in their relationship, Modoc was sold behind Bram's back and vanished for more than 20 years. This text records the heart-wrenching events that followed.Trade Review“Heartwarming, captivating...a beautifully true story that will make you think twice about the incredible and very real feelings of elephants, and probably the greatest love story ever told.” — African Sun-Times “Once I started this incomparable story, I couldn’t put it down, and I cannot get it out of my mind--nor will I ever. The message of what can be accomplished by training through affection and joy will thrill all animal lovers.” — Betty White “Once in a while, a book comes along to prove that wonderful friendships can occur between the animal kingdom and mankind. Ralph Helfer has done it with Modoc.” — San Antonio Express-News “A captivating tale.” — Publishers Weekly “Heartwarming, captivating...a beautifully written true story that will make you think twice about the incredible and very real feelings of elephants, and probably the greatest love story ever told.” — African Sun Times

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Book SynopsisNUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERNo one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life's challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he's learned over the course of his fascinating, exhilarating life.Special forces training is no walk in the park. The rules are strict and they make sure you learn the hard way, pushing you beyond the limits of what is physically possible. There is no mercy. Even when you are bleeding and broken, to admit defeat is failure.To survive the gruelling selection process to become a member of the elite you need toughness, aggression, meticulous attention to detail and unrelenting self-discipline, all traits that make for the best leaders.After 13 years service in the military, with 4 years as a Special Boat Service (SBS) sniper, Ant Middleton is the epitome of what it takes to excel. He served in the SBS, the naval wing of the special forces, the Royal Marines Trade Review [A} thumping bestseller… searingly honest’ Sunday Times ‘The best book of the year. First Man In will supercharge your life. Incredible’ Tom Marcus, author of bestseller Soldier Spy ‘Superb, fist-biting fun’ GQ ‘Visceral… Inspirational reading’ Daily Mail Books of the Year

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERChasing Daylight is the honest, touching, and ultimately inspirational memoir of former KPMG CEO Eugene O'Kelley, completed in the three-and-a-half months between his diagnosis with brain cancer and his death in September 2005. Its haunting yet extraordinarily hopeful voice reminds us to embrace the fragile, fleeting moments of our lives-the brief time we have with our family, our friends, and even ourselves. This paperback edition features a new foreword by his wife, Corinne O'Kelley and a readers' group guide and questions.âœVoicing universal truths . . . shared . . . simply and clearly.â-Janet Malin, New York TimesâœWords to live by.â-Kerry Hannon, USA TodayâœOne of the most unexpected and touching books you're likely to read this year.â-Edward Nawotka, Bloomberg NewsâœAn honest, thought-provoking memoir . . . O'Kelly has many lessons to teach us on how to live.â-Steve PowersTable of ContentsForeword: A GiftThe Bottom LineThe Business of Dying is HardThe TransitionThe Good GoodbyeAfterword: Chasing Daylight

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Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe world is messing with our minds.Rates of stress and anxiety are rising. A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives. We are more connected, yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index.- How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? - How do we stay human in a technological world?- How do we feel happy when we are encouraged to be anxious? After experiencing years of anxiety and panic attacks, these questions became urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig. And he began to look for the link between what he felt and the world around him. Notes on a Nervous Planet is a personal and vital look at how to feel happy, human and whole in the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewWitty, honest and engaging . . . A worthy successor to Reasons to Stay Alive * * Sunday Times * *An honest and human guide to coping with the modern world . . . Notes on a Nervous Planet is generous, sensible and timely. Reading it will probably be good for your mental health. Especially if you leave your smartphone in another room . . . Thought-provoking * * Guardian * *Thought-provoking . . . [Haig's] hard-won wisdom asks us to think about how we can live in the present - and in so doing, he creates a wonderfully perceptive chronicle of life in the always-on social media age. A real-world guide to mindfulness * * Observer * *Beautiful, honest and wise -- FEARNE COTTONNotes on a Nervous Planet is a fascinating look at the link between anxiety and the world we live in . . . [Haig is] one of our warmest, wittiest and wisest writers * * Mail on Sunday * *Genius -- RUBY WAXHaig's bestseller Reasons to Stay Alive was an engaging self-help memoir which mined personal trauma for valuable life lessons. This follow-up is a rag-bag of personal experience, thoughts and feelings . . . some thought-provoking, some pertinent and important . . . He's a smart operator who knows his readership and genuinely wants to help them . . . I reached the last page admiring the author's inventive energy and insight -- Bel Mooney * * Daily Mail * *Take Notes on a Nervous Planet twice daily, with or without food. The book is crammed with wisdom, insight, love and wit -- STEPHEN FRYA primer for how to live in the present moment. This book will find grateful readers everywhere -- NIGELLA LAWSONMatt Haig has written really something rather special here - the definitive user manual for your own head. It's a self-help book that - unusually for the genre - talks in sensible, practical terms not in vague aphorisms and allegories. Recommended for anyone who's ever wobbled, and that's all of us -- ADAM KAY

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Book SynopsisVolume 2 of 3-volume set containing complete English text of all 13 books of the Elements plus critical analysis of each definition, postulate, and proposition. Covers textual and linguistic matters; mathematical analyses of Euclid''s ideas; classical, medieval, Renaissance and modern commentators; refutations, supports, extrapolations, reinterpretations and historical notes. Vol. 2 includes Books III-IX: Circles, relationships, rectilineal figures.

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Book SynopsisThe story, or novella, as a literary genre has a much shorter history in Russia than in some Western countries, but it has nevertheless produced important works by some of the greatest names in Russian literature. This dual-language volume contains 12 such stories ? memorable tales by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, Bunin, and other masters. Each selection is presented here in the original Russian with an excellent literal English translation on the facing pages.Also included are linguistic and cultural notes, a Russian-English vocabulary, study questions and more. In addition, Professor Struve has supplied an enlightening introduction to the Russian short story, as well as concise biographical/critical introductions to each selection. An especially helpful feature for students of Russian is the presence of stress accents in the Russian text, a feature usually found only in primers.

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Book Synopsis*#GIRLBOSS NETFLIX ORIGINAL OUT NOW*In this New York Times bestselling sensation, founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal Sophia Amoruso shares her story and inspires women everywhere to join the #GIRLBOSS movement.''#GIRLBOSS is more than a book . . . #GIRLBOSS is a movement'' Lena Dunham''A millennial alternative to Lean In'' New York Magazine''A compellingly motivational read'' The Telegraph''The book you need in your life'' Marie Claire *Winner of the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Business Book*In the space of ten years, Sophia Amoruso has gone from high-school dropout to founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal, one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world. Sophia''s never been a typical executive, or a typical anything, and she''s written #GIRLBOSS for other girls like her: outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success.Filled with brazen wake-up calls, cunning and frank observations, and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal''s meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground. It proves that success doesn''t come from where you went to college or how popular you were in school. Success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break.Inspiring, motivating and empowering, #GIRLBOSS will give you the kick up the ass you need to reach your potential.Trade Review#GIRLBOSS is more than a book and Sophia Amoruso is more than a purveyor of (fine and fly) garments. #GIRLBOSS is a movement - a philosophy for making your work life as fun, fresh and raunchy as your personal adventures. Sophia encourages us to own the qualities we've previously been ashamed of (bossiness, crudeness, petty thievery) in order to become the masters of our own destiny, financially independent and radically ourselves. I'm so in -- Lena DunhamA great book about starting a business from scratch. I [love] her story of ambition and hard work! Check it out -- Reese WitherspoonThe Cinderella of tech * New York Times *Bold and honest... #Girlboss is a gift * Forbes *Starkly brilliant * Huffington Post *A millennial alternative to Lean In -- The Cut * New York Magazine *The book you need in your life ... a simultaneously funny, warm, inspiring and straight-talking guide on how to go about getting shit done * Marie Claire *A compellingly motivational read * The Telegraph *Deeply personal and filled with brazen, hilarious moments and cunning and frank observations, don't be surprised if you laugh out loud * SheerLuxe *Amoruso's voice is accessible and charmingly self-deprecating without losing the effortless cool that characterizes her clothes...Being anti-establishment is teh old cool. The new cool is playing by your own rules and still winning by their standards * New York Times Book Review *Part memoir, part management guide and part girl-power manifesto. A sort of Lean In for misfits, it offers young women a candid guide to starting a business and going after what they want * Washington Post *A power manifesto for strong, ambitious young women ... Amoruso teaches the innovative and entrepreneurial among us to play to our strengths, learn from our mistakes, and know when to break a few of the traditional rules * Vanity Fair *If you read one book with a hashtag for a title this year, make it #GIRLBOSS * TechCrunch *It's easy to get the sense, reading Lean In, that Sandberg is writing for women who've already made it. #GIRLBOSS is for those who haven't, which means it is aimed at people who have nothing to lose, which makes it a much riskier and more enjoyable manifesto * New York Magazine *Filled with great advice for all millennial women ready to take over the world * Cosmopolitan *Offers empowering but unapologetic mantras about taking control of your life, making the choices you want to make and knowing which rules to stick to - and which to break ... #GIRLBOSS [is] giving Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In a run for its money * Grazia *

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Book SynopsisThe latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass.Beth is a sweet-natured child who appears to have been well looked after. But it isn't long before Cathy begins to have concerns that the relationship between Beth and her father is not as it should be.Little Beth, aged 7, has been brought up by her father Derek after her mother left when she was a toddler. When Derek is suddenly admitted to hospital with psychiatric problems Beth is taken into care and arrives at Cathy's.Beth and her father clearly love each other very much and Derek spoils his daughter, treating her like a princess, but there is something bothering Cathy, something she can't quite put her finger on.Meanwhile Cathy's husband is working away a lot and coming home less at weekends. Then, suddenly, everything changes. Events take a dramatic turn for both Beth and Cathy and her family; as Cathy strives to pick up the pieces all their lives are changed forever.

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Book SynopsisA lucid, gripping account of the human side of one of the bloodiest chapters of British history. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York for the throne of England was characterised by treachery, deceit and - at St Albans, Blore Hill and Towton, - some of the goriest and most dramatic battles on England''s soil. Between 1455 and 1487 the royal coffers were bankrupted, and the conflict resulted in the downfall of the houses of Lancaster and York and the emergence of the illustrious Tudor dynasty.Alison Weir''s account focuses on the people and personalities involved in the conflict. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and Henry''s rival, and most important of all, Margaret of Anjou, Henry''s wife who took up her arms in her husband''s cause and battled for many years in a violent man''s world.''A joy to read'' EconomistTrade ReviewWeir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind * Independent *A joy to read * Economist *A lively account of plotting and intrigues * Daily Mail *An exciting and fast-moving account. -- Rachel Bellerby * www.suite101.com *

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Book SynopsisEach day we saw the outside world in all its splendour, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives. Jim Quillen, AZ586 - a runaway, problem child and petty thief - was jailed several times before his twentieth birthday. In August 1942, after escaping from San Quentin, he was arrested on the run and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, and later transferred to Alcatraz. This is the true story of life inside America's most notorious prison - from terrifying times in solitary confinement to daily encounters with 'the Birdman', and what really happened during the desperate and deadly 1946 escape attempt.

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Book SynopsisNorah Vincent became an instant media sensation with the publication of Self-Made Man, her take on just how hard it is to be a man, even in a man's world. Vincent spent a year and a half disguised as her male alter ego, Ned, exploring what men are like when women aren't around. As Ned, she joined a bowling team, took a high-octane sales job, went on dates with women (and men), visited strip clubs, and even managed to infiltrate a monastery and a men's therapy group. At once thought-provoking and pure fun to read, Self-Made Man is a sympathetic and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism.Trade ReviewThis captivating account will forever change the way you see men - and perhaps yourself * Marie Claire *An addictive, enthralling read...breathtaking -- Viv Groskop * Observer *Beautifully written...a brave and fascinating book * Sunday Times *Funny, compelling and human -- Sarah Vine * The Times *Intelligent, articulate and perceptive... one of the most sympathetic renderings of masculinity you're likely to read -- Lionel Shriver * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisLoved Goodbye Christopher Robin? Learn more about the real place that inspired the beloved stories. Delve into the home of the world’s most beloved bear! The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh explores the magical landscapes where Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their friends live and play. The Hundred Acre Wood—the setting for Winnie-the-Pooh’s adventures—was inspired by Ashdown Forest, a wildlife haven that spans more than 6,000 acres in southeast England. In the pages of this enchanting book you can visit the ancient black walnut tree on the edge of the forest that became Pooh’s house, go deep into the pine trees to find Poohsticks Bridge, and climb up to the top of the enchanted Galleons Lap, where Pooh says goodbye to Christopher Robin. You will discover how Milne's childhood connection with nature and his role as a father influenced his famous stories, and how his close collaboration with illustrator E. H. Shepard brought those stories to life. This charming book also serves as a guide to the plants, animals, and places of the remarkable Ashdown Forest, whether you are visiting in person or from the comfort of your favorite armchair. In a delightful narrative, enriched with Shepard’s original illustrations, hundreds of color photographs, and Milne’s own words, you will rediscover your favorite characters and the magical place they called home.

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Book SynopsisNew Zealand's prime minister has been hailed as a leader for a new generation, tired of inaction in the face of issues such as climate change and far-right terrorism. Her grace and compassion following the Christchurch mosque shooting captured the world's attention. Oprah Winfrey invited us to channel our inner Jacindas' as praise for Ardern flooded headlines and social media. The ruler of this remote country even made the cover of Time. In this revealing biography, journalist Madeleine Chapman discovers the woman behind the headlines. Always politically engaged and passionate, Ardern is uncompromising and astute. In her first press conference, she announced an election campaign of relentless positivity'. The tactic was a resounding success: donations poured in and Labour rebounded in the polls. But has Ardern lived up to her promise? What political concessions has she had to make? And beyond the hype, what does her new style of leadership look like in practice?

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Book SynopsisIn the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: to preserve this crucial part of the world’s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.     Joshua Hammer writes about how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world’s greatest smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction. With bravery and patience, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. His heroic heist is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture. His story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.Trade Review**New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice** “This is, simply, a fantastic story, one that has been beautifully told by Josh Hammer, who knows and loves Mali like some farmers know their back forty. At a time of unprecedented cultural destruction taking place across the Muslim world, Abdel Kader Haidara, the savior of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts and this book's main character, is a true hero. If you are feeling despair about the fate of the world, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is a must-read, and a welcome shot in the arm.” -- Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad“[The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu] has all the elements of a classic adventure novel [and] it is a story that couldn’t be more timely. . . . Suffice it to say that [the librarians] earn their “bad ass” sobriquet several times over. Riveting skullduggery, revealing history and current affairs combine in a compelling narrative with a rare happy ending.” * Seattle Times *“The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu . . . vividly captures the history and strangeness of [Timbuktu] in a fast-paced narrative that gets us behind today’s headlines of war and terror. This is part reportage and travelogue . . . part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract and part out-and-out thriller." * Washington Post *“I’ve long known that the versatile Joshua Hammer could drop into the midst of a war or political conflict anywhere in the world and make sense of it. But he has outdone himself this time, and found an extraordinary, moving story of a quiet—and successful—act of great bravery in the face of destructive fanaticism.” -- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost and To End All Wars“Part history, part scholarly adventure story and part journalist survey of the volatile religious politics of the Maghreb region. . . . Hammer writes with verve and expertise.” * New York Times Book Review *"A picaresque and mysterious adventure that rushes across the strife-torn landscape of today’s Mali, The Bad-Ass Librarians tells the unlikely but very real story of a band of bookish heroes from Timbuktu and their desperate race—past dangerous checkpoints, through deserts, and often in the dead of night—to save a culture and a civilization from destruction. Josh Hammer has seen firsthand how ordinary people can respond with extraordinary heroism when faced with evil. He also gives us a dramatic example of what it means to stick with a story; he knows this one from the beginnings in the late 1300s up until the present day, with its extremism and acts of cultural repression and erasure. Hammer has an unerring sense of what matters and his storytelling is impassioned and fun at the same time." -- Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo"Gripping [and] ultimately moving. . . . History depends on whose stories get told and which books survive; in Timbuktu, thanks to Haidara and his associates, inquiry, humanity, and courage live on in the libraries." * Boston Globe *"A completely engrossing adventure with a sharp--and prescient--political edge. Josh Hammer, a veteran correspondent of numerous conflict zones, tells a fascinating story about the quest to save Timbuktu’s priceless Islamic writings from the grasp of jihadists. This is an entertaining, and extremely timely, book about the value of art and history and the excesses of religious extremism." -- Janet Reitman, author of Inside Scientology“Hammer has pulled off the truly remarkable here—a book that is both important and a delight to read. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is the wonderfully gripping story of Abdel Kader Haidara and the hundreds of ordinary Malians who, at great personal danger, endeavored to save the ancient fabled manuscripts of Timbuktu from destruction by Islamic jihadists. It is also an inspirational reminder that, even as the forces of barbarism extend their thrall across so much of the Muslim world, there are still those willing to risk everything to preserve civilization. A superb rendering of a story that needs to be told.” -- Scott Anderson, author of Lawrence in Arabia“This book is a particularly adventurous and impressive example of the fact that, even with time, water, fire, mold, and termites, humanity remains the greatest threat to books and our literary, historical, and creative heritage.” * San Francisco Chronicle *"While the destructive acts of Islamic extremists worldwide capture headlines, countless stories of heroic resistance rarely receive attention. Award-winning journalist Hammer shines a light on one such episode of bravery and defiance. . . . Bad-Ass Librarians is a rousing salute to ordinary civilians who make a stand to preserve cultural heritage against all odds." * Discover Magazine *"Hammer tells the dramatic story of how, during the period of Islamist rule, a group of Timbuktu residents saved some 350,000 ancient manuscripts that had resided in the city since its medieval heyday as a great center of learning and scholarship. . . . In addition to weaving a great yarn, Hammer also provides a fascinating history of Timbuktu and its books and a well-informed account of the struggle against Islamist extremism in the Sahel." * Foreign Affairs Magazine *“There are nail-biting moments when everything hangs in the balance [and] one can almost imagine the movie version. . . . Excellent.” * Dallas Morning News *"Gripping. . . . The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the tale of how a gutsy collector saved thousands of documents. . . . It was only because of Abdel Kader Haidara and a group of brave librarians that these manuscripts about poetry, music, sex, and science did not end lost in the desert or up in smoke." * Salon *“On one level, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is a thriller that revolves around one long chase scene, as librarian race through the deserts of Mali trying to salvage a trove of precious manuscripts from jihadists hell-bent on their destruction. The stakes in this chase are no less than civilization itself. On another level, Joshua Hammer’s book is about a struggle between Islamic ideologies—one jihadist, inflexible and violent, and the other open and intellectual. Joshua Hammer’s book could not be more relevant to today’s events.” -- Barbara Demick, author of Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea“Hammer crafts a thoughtful history of the Middle East and Africa in a narrative that goes beyond the one- and two-dimensional views that are popular today [and] provides a geopolitical explainer that gives context to the development of radical Islam. . . . The book’s title isn’t overstated. Haidara, and those who aided him, truly are ‘bad-ass.’” * Fort Worth Star-Telegram *“The sources of Timbuktu’s vitality—the connections to travel and trade that once made it a meeting place for West Africans and a haven for writ­ing and learning—have been destroyed, and Hammer’s book, to its great credit, makes us see what a loss that is.” * New York Review of Books *"Hammer does a service to Haidara and the Islamic faith by providing the illuminating history of these manuscripts, managing to weave the complicated threads of this recent segment of history into a thrilling story." * Publishers Weekly *"[A] vivid, fast-paced narrative. . . . Hammer draws on many—often dangerous—visits to the city and interviews with major players to chronicle the efforts of Abdel Kader Haidara to save priceless literary and historical manuscripts. . . . A chilling portrait of a country under siege and one man's defiance." * Kirkus Reviews *“At once a history, caper and thriller.” * The Economist *“A jaunty gem of a book.... The greatest merit of The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is that it convincingly repudiates extremist Islamism at the quotidian level, at which it does not pose a global threat: it is objectionable not just because it imperils Westerners, their friends and the existing political order, but also because it is socially and intellectually retrograde, and abusive of the people it purports to protect.” * Survival (International Institute for Strategic Studies) *“As precarious and fraught with obstacles as any Hollywood heist. . . . Both a moving story of quiet heroism and a fascinating glimpse into a country little-known in the U.S., The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu will appeal to historians, bibliophiles and those who love a good heist narrative.” * Shelf Awareness *“Illuminating reading.” * Booklist *“An engaging, well-plotted historical adventure that will appeal to history and book lovers.” * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *"Engrossing. . . . To call this book a page-turner is to diminish it; the suspense that Hammer creates is vital, but it’s his shrewd reporting on cultural terrorism--and those who fought against it--that makes The Bad-Ass Librarians so important. No book lover should miss it." * Fine Books & Collections Magazine *“Hammer gives the badass librarians of Timbuktu—who outwitted al-Qaeda, saving ancient Arabic texts from being destroyed—their due.” * Vanity Fair *“An engrossing tale, complete with a dangerous smuggling operation.” * Bustle (Best Books of April) *“[A] powerful narrative. . . . Hammer’s clearly written and engaging chronicle of the achievements of Timbuktu, the risks presented to this area, and portraits of several brave and dedicated individuals brings to light an important and unfamiliar story.” * Library Journal *"Gripping." * Houston Chronicle *"Hammer exposed my ignorance. Without thinking about it, I had accepted the conventional wisdom . . . but The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu provides irrefutable evidence that culture and learning in Africa were far more advanced than in Europe by the 16th century when Timbuktu flourished as a center of learning." * Washington Independent Review of Books *"Journalist Josh Hammer deftly offers up a string of interconnected tales, ranging from ancient Islamic scholarship to in-fighting in US political circles to French military campaigns and the rise of radical extremists throughout Africa. . . . But always front and center is the fate of these manuscripts and how their very existence puts a lie to the hateful extremism fueling the terrorists who would destroy them. Librarians are always bad-ass but even the most hardcore would have to tip their hats to the brave ones depicted here." * BookFilter *

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Book SynopsisWinchester Lever-Action repeating rifles are an integral part of the folklore of the American West. Introduced shortly after the American Civil War, the very first Winchester, the M1866, would go on to see military service as far afield as Bulgaria, but it was in the hands of civilians that it would become known as ''The gun that won the west.'' Offering a lethal combination of portability, ruggedness and ammunition interchangeability with pistol sidearms, the Winchesters and their innovative and elegant breech-loading system represented a revolutionary design. They were used by a staggering variety of military and civilian groups - gold-miners, trappers, hunters, farmers, lawmen, professional gunmen and Native Americans. It equipped a whole generation of settlers and as such left an imprint on American culture that continues to resonate today. This book explores the Winchesters'' unique place in the history of firearms, revealing the technical secrets of their success with a full arraTable of ContentsIntroduction / Development: “The ability to shoot repeatedly” / Use: North, South – and West / Impact: The Winchester’s place in history / Conclusion / Select bibliography / Index

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Book SynopsisMarvelous Marvin Hagler is a sporting legend. Often called the greatest middleweight boxer of all time, he held the world title for 12 defences, including bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran which entered fistic folklore. From his wild early fights in the boxing wilderness of Brockton, Massachusetts, Brian and Damian Hughes trace the blazing trail of Hagler's career: the controversial defeats subsequently avenged, a riot-scarred title win in London, and his unification of the middleweight crown. Hagler became a huge favourite, taking on all comers while never taking a step back. And so to The Ring magazine's "greatest round of all time" against Hearns, his ferocious battle with Duran, and the still-controversial loss to his nemesis Leonard. Marvelous tells the story of Hagler's extraordinary life for the first time, separating truth from myth to get right to the heart of a complex and charismatic man.

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Book Synopsis''This brave and moving memoir challenges all the clichés about mental illness ... All who know the pain of depression will find the book immensely useful, and so will their friends and relations'' Sunday Times''Brave and honest ... It must have been terribly painful to write it. But, golly, am I glad that Sally Brampton did'' IndependentShoot the Damn Dog blasts the stigma of depression as a character flaw and confronts the illness Winston Churchill called the black dog'', a condition that humiliates, punishes and isolates its sufferers.It is a personal account of a journey through severe depression as well as being a practical book, suggesting ideas about what might help. With its raw, understated eloquence, it will speak volumes to anyone whose life has been haunted by depression, as well as offering help and understanding to those whose loved ones suffer from this difficult illness.This updated edition includes a beautiful and moving afterword by Trade ReviewDown-to-earth, honest, sometimes painful, often moving ... What stands out is the book's tone: its honesty, its wisdom and its courage * Daily Telegraph *Brave and honest ... It must have been terribly painful to write it. But, golly, am I glad that Sally Brampton did * Independent *She writes of her despair with such fluidity and lyricism * Observer *Brampton's obsessively honest, angry account ... aims to explode the myth that depression happens only to losers ... This brave and moving memoir challenges all the clichés about mental illness ... All who know the pain of depression will find the book immensely useful, and so will their friends and relations * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisHave you ever asked yourself whether your career is moving in the right direction? Finding the right next job isn't just a flip of a coin. With the right strategy and mindset, you can shape your future.Job Moves presents a radical new vision of career development. Drawing upon their research from the Harvard Business School, the authors offer nine practical steps to transform your career by helping you understand your true priorities, the experiences you hope to gain, what trade-offs you're willing to make, and how to learn if a new job will deliver before switching.Together, the authors will help you decide which skills to develop, build your network, and make the progress you desire. Whatever your direction, Job Moves will help you take the first step towards your dream job.

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