Other books that might interest you

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  Anoint My Head - How I Failed to...

  Andy Macleod

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  It’s 1992 and Horace dreams of becoming a rockstar with his band the Pointy Birds. The only problem is that his day-job (mis)filing vinyl in a Soho record store is stealing all his time and energy, plus rival bands like Suede, Blur, Pulp and Radiohead are moving on to bigger and better things. But then someone called Ricky offers his services as a band manager and at last the dream can start. 
  Anoint My Head is the tale of a band who didn’t become rich, or famous but had a manager who did. It is also the story of a musical era, and documents the rise of some of the biggest British Britpop bands of the nineties, plus a comedian who went on to write quite a successful sitcom about a paper merchants in Slough. 
  A coming-of-age story about pursuing your dreams and what happens when reality gets in the way.  
  Perfect for fans of Caitlin Moran, Nicky Hornby & Ricky Gervais. 
  ‘Captures the time and the aspirations of a young band brilliantly. A great eye-opener into the absurd thought process of what it might take to headline Glastonbury!' Steve Lamacq BBC 6 Music 
  ‘All the fun of youthful dreams and the poignancy of disappointment - plus a remarkable A-list cameo. Magnificent.’ Phil Harrison Time Out / Guardian  
  ‘Hilarious warts-and-all story of a Britpop band whose big ambitions did not meet their talents’ Dan Carrier Camden New Journal 
  'Super-evocative, Proustian and a wonderful walk down memory lane.’ Mark Bowen Wichita Recordings 
  "A healthy measure of Nick Hornby with a dash of Adrian Mole had he joined an indie band. Just the tonic for these serious and uncertain days. Bottoms up!' Josh Levay Pointy Birds keyboardist/naysayer 
  “If Spinal Tap had been an indie band in 1990s Britpop London. Brilliant!” Dave Macleod

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  Rumsfeld's War - The Untold...

  Rowan Scarborough

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  The man in the cockpit fighting the war on terror.When terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon, he was there-helping carry the wounded to safety. And he's been there-leading the war on terror, directing its operations around the world in both open and covert missions, and bluntly focusing on one primary goal: killing terrorists. He is Donald Rumsfeld. His great fear was a second Pearl Harbor. When it happened on September 11, 2001, he led the charge to make sure it never happens again.This book takes you inside Rumsfeld's Pentagon, detailing the far-sighted, courageous decisions he has made to enable our military to fight this most unconventional of wars. Rowan Scarborough, veteran national security reporter for the Washington Times, has had access to Rumsfeld himself as well as to numerous never-before-released documents that show not only how Rumsfeld is fighting the war, but how he is fighting the bureaucracy and remaking the American military, shifting the focus from the ingrained "can't-do" bureaucracy to the special operations Green Berets, SEALs, and others who live by "can-do."Many of Rumsfeld's hard-won victories are revealed here for the first time. Scarborough interviewed scores of Rumsfeld's friends and colleagues, including former president Gerald Ford, economist Arthur Laffer, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and many military personnel. He also provides details of some highly secretive Pentagon operations-carried out under Rumsfeld's supervision by groups that most Americans don't even know exist. In addition, Scarborough offers an enlightening comparison between Rumsfeld's decisiveness and willingness to act and declare a war on terror and the Clinton administration's lassitude, distraction, and treatment of terrorism as a law enforcement issue during al Qaeda's astonishingly rapid rise in the 1990s.Scarborough concludes that history will surely judge Rumsfeld as "one of America's most important defense leaders." Rumsfeld's War reveals why-and how much of the bold new military strategy and vision that we are implementing now in the war on terror we owe to one brilliant, brave, and tenacious man: Donald Rumsfeld.

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  The Murder of the Countess Görlitz

  Sabine Baring-Gould

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  The bizarre death of the Countess Görlitz at Darmstadt in Germany, in 1847, was one of the greatest mysteries of the age. For several years it was widely believed that the Countess had spontaneously combusted at her writing desk. Another popular theory was that her husband, Count Görlitz, a Privy Councillor and Chamberlain to the Grand-Duke of Hesse had murdered her - a charge which he vigorously denied.It was not until three years later that light was finally shed on the case...and then the events of that fateful night turned out to be even stranger than anyone could have imagined.

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  Kirby - King of Comics

  Mark Evanier

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  Filled with stunning artwork, this biography of comics pioneer Jack Kirby by an artist who worked closely with him is “a treasure” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer). 
   
  “As a teenager, future television and comics writer [Mark] Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby’s life story in an informal, entertaining manner . . . he brings Kirby’s personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby’s genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby’s incredible artwork.” —Publishers Weekly 
   
  Includes an introduction by Neil Gaiman

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  Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision...

  Nadra Nittle

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  When Toni Morrison died in August 2019, she was widely remembered for her contributions to literature as an African American woman, an identity she wore proudly. Morrison was clear that she wrote from a Black, female perspective and for others who shared her identity. But just as much as she was an African American writer, Toni Morrison was a woman of faith.Morrison filled her novels with biblical allusions, magic, folktales, and liberated women, largely because Christianity, African American folk magic, and powerful women defined her own life. Her relatives, particularly her mother, were good storytellers, and her family's oral tradition included ghost stories and African American folktales. But her family was also Christian. As a child, Morrison converted to Catholicism and chose a baptismal name that truly became her own—Anthony, from St. Anthony of Padua—going from Chloe to Toni. Morrison embraced both Catholicism and the occult as a child and, later, as a writer. She was deeply religious, and her spirituality included the Bible, the paranormal, and the folktales she heard as a child.Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks this oft-ignored, but essential, element of Toni Morrison's work—her religion—and in so doing, gives listeners a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing.

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  Wicked Charleston - The Dark...

  Mark R. Jones

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  Wicked Charleston: The Dark Side of the Holy City, by local resident and tour guide Mark R. Jones, explores the dark alleys and seedy characters not often associated with the Charleston of today.A beautiful Southern city distinguished by its opulent homes, towering church steeples, and hospitality, Charleston, South Carolina, has long been associated with the genteel side of Southern living. However, beyond the outward appearances that most people associate with Charleston, there is another side that most visitors and residents would dare not believe is part of the very fabric from which the city's history was woven. From the sexual escapades of an original Lord Proprietor and the comings and goings of the most notorious pirates, to secret brothels and nightclubs, Jones leads the reader back to a time when "drinking, eating, and whoring with more than fifty wenches" was perhaps more common in the Holy City than one may imagine.

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