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  Pandamonium! - How (Not) to Run...

  Simon Williams

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  'Hilarious, heart-wrenching and packed with British music history.' - COLDPLAY A Virgin Radio Book of the YearIt's a life-and-near-death story. But whose life? And whose near-death?As a one-time NME journalist, former Xfm radio presenter, toilet-circuit promoter and the founder of enduring homespun British record label Fierce Panda, Simon Williams has been at the cutting, cutting, cutting edge of all things 'indie' for over thirty years. During his tenure as managing director of Fierce Panda (a role he holds to this day), Simon was responsible for tripping over bands such as Coldplay, Keane, Placebo and countless other acts of independent hue - some of whom have gone on to achieve earth-shattering musical superstardom, while others have merely baffled the crowd at the Bull & Gate in north London on a wet Wednesday evening.Unfiltered and unflinching, Pandamonium! is the story of Simon's time at the indie coalface, filled with insider anecdotes to entertain music enthusiasts everywhere - from the origins of a bootlegged Oasis release to Chris Martin's delight at reaching number ninety-two in the charts. But it is also the story of how Simon tried to bring a premature end to proceedings, documenting in blunt, matter-of-fact detail his longstanding mental-health struggles.Yet, despite his raw and often poignant honesty, Simon writes with the warmth, wit, self-deprecation and wide-eyed good fortune of someone who has stared into the abyss and survived, bounding down a few indie rabbit holes along the way.

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  I Am Bunny - How a ""Talking""...

  Alexis Devine

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  Social media stars of @WhatAboutBunny, Alexis Devine and Bunny the ""talking"" dog, deliver a memoir loaded with wit and passion for animals, as well as the vulnerability and authenticity of a woman who learned to take care of herself by learning to talk to her dog 
  When Bunny, a fluffy, black-and-white sheepadoodle, was eight weeks old, her guardian Alexis presented her with an odd gift: a button programed to say “outside” when pressed. Within a few weeks, Bunny was using it all the time and Alexis, encouraged by Bunny’s progress, continued to introduce more buttons and more words . . . 
  Three years later, Bunny can now communicate using over one hundred buttons, stringing together important, relatable, philosophical phrases such as “Love you Mom,” “Dad went poop,” and “Ugh why?” In I Am Bunny, a memoir in essays and beautiful, full-color photographs, Alexis chronicles not only how Bunny learned to “talk,” but also the profound impact their journey has had on her life. Caring for Bunny has revealed to Alexis a path to self-acceptance, if not complete self-love, and as their relationship developed and their ability to communicate deepened, Alexis was able to reflect on and reframe her past traumas in a newly vulnerable and healing way. Helping Bunny through her fear and reactivity allowed Alexis to examine these qualities in herself, and as she created a safe space for Bunny, she too found space for her own healing. 
  Through charming anecdotes about day-to-day life with Bunny, explorations into prior animal language studies, and plenty of irreverent humor, daring, and heart, Alexis tells the story of how she and Bunny have become so inspiringly close, and explores the ancient and unique bond between dog and guardian that so many of us know leads to a deeper, more meaningful life.

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  Talleyrand: The Life and Legacy...

  Editors Charles River

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  “Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred.” - Talleyrand 
  	While Metternich is most associated with the Congress of Vienna, France, despite its turbulence, had its own influential representative there: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Known simply as Talleyrand, his name ultimately became associated with crafty, manipulative personal and political maneuvering, even in a country that suffered no shortage of such diplomats and ministers in its history. 
  	As an adult, Talleyrand lived through the most tumultuous years of French history. In a period of little more than 40 years, France passed through five very different periods of rule, but despite the chaos these rapid changes brought, Talleyrand served in important roles in each successive new regime and, through a combination of charm, guile, intelligence, ability, and duplicity, played a leading role in undermining and destroying each. 
  	Under the Ancien Régime, the social and political system by which France had been ruled since the Middle Ages, Talleyrand became a bishop. When the French Revolution tore the nation apart, Talleyrand betrayed both the church and the French Monarchy and became Foreign Minister for the Directory, the governing committee of the French First Republic. In 1799, he betrayed the Republic by helping to organize the coup d'état that would see Napoleon Bonaparte become the absolute dictator of France. 
  	Talleyrand became extremely rich and very powerful under Napoleon, until he wearied of his new leader and betrayed him by selling secrets to his enemies. Talleyrand was one of the key people involved in the plot to remove Napoleon from power and pave the way for the Bourbon Restoration that brought Louis XVIII to the French throne in 1814. He was also a significant factor in the undermining of that regime and its replacement in 1830 during another revolution by a new constitutional monarchy.

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  Edgar Allan Poe and HP...

  Editors Charles River

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  Edgar Allan Poe was one of America’s first native-born professional authors, but he nevertheless embodied the now-common archetype of the artist — dark, tortured, brilliant and tragic. Born into troubled conditions, Poe’s life hardly improved over the years, and when it did, his happiness or triumph was always brief. His work was lauded during his lifetime, but his lifestyle never came close to matching the legacy that would swell in the decades following his death. And that untimely end, so mysterious and pathetic, was an event that only Poe or Fate could have been macabre enough to script. However, in spite of (or perhaps because of) all of his suffering, Poe remains one of the great forces in American literature, particularly during its formative years. He was a pioneer of multiple literary traditions, including the gothic, horror, dark Romanticism, detective, satire, hoax and science fiction genres.  
  	There is no greater accolade for a writer than for their name to become an adjective. For example, any story that deals with a dystopian future is likely to be called “Orwellian” following the success of the novel 1984 by English writer George Orwell. But within the horror genre, Lovecraft’s work, filled with madness and brooding menace and set in a semi-fictional world of his own creation, gave rise to the use of the term “Lovecraftian” to describe similar works. Despite this accolade, however, Lovecraft achieved almost no commercial success and very little recognition during his lifetime. His output also seems disproportionately small compared to his current influence - he never wrote a full-length novel, and most of his fiction took the form of short stories published in various magazines. It was only after his death that his fiction was regarded as more significant than the bulk of horror fiction written in the 1920s and 1930s.

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  Luftwaffe Bomber to Nightfighter...

  Arnold Doring, Richard Overy

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  Arnold Döring was just twenty-three years old when he flew his first mission against the Soviet Union on June 21, 1941. On that day he started writing his diary. His account not only describe the technical aspects and the difficulties posed by weather and terrain, but are also filled with suspense, with detailed descriptions of bombing raids and narrow escapes from enemy fighter planes. With detached professionalism, Döring offers us thrilling, action-packed snapshots of life as a Luftwaffe pilot.This volume of the diaries, translated into English for the first time, covers the period from August 1943 to May 1945, when the author was flying sorties as a nightfighter, including Operation Gisela, the largest and final operation of the Luftwaffe against the Allies. Despite experiencing crash-landings, near misses, terrifying night missions and precarious flights with too little fuel and under-trained crew, Döring survived through his skill and instincts, as well as a fair amount of luck.

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  Frederick Douglass and Harriet...

  Charles River Editors

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  With the possible exception of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., no African American has been more instrumental in the fight for minorities’ civil rights in the United States than Frederick Douglass, an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. His list of accomplishments would be impressive enough even without taking into account the fact that he was born into slavery.  
  	Douglass was born into slavery, and it’s believed his father was a white man, even perhaps his master Aaron Anthony. When Douglass was about 12, his slaveowner’s wife, Sophia Auld, began teaching him the alphabet in defiance of the South’s laws against teaching slaves how to read. When her husband Hugh found out, he was furious, reminding her that if the slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom. Those words would prove prophetic. 
  	Douglass is noted as saying that "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom,” and he took that advice to heart, teaching himself how to read and write with his knowledge of the alphabet. On September 3, 1838, Douglass successfully escaped slavery, traveling by boat to Delaware, Philadelphia, and finally New York, all in the span of a day. Douglass found a “new world had opened upon me.” 
  	Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous women in American history, and from an early age every American learns of her contributions to abolition and the Underground Railroad. The woman who became known as the Moses of her people personally led more than 13 expeditions to free slaves in the South, and she was so integral in helping escaped slaves achieve freedom that her name is practically synonymous with the Underground Railroad today.  
  	If anything, the central role she played in the Underground Railroad has become so ingrained among subsequent generations that Tubman’s life has been shrouded in legend, and other important aspects have been overlooked.

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