Selvbiografier

A behind-the-scenes look at one of one of the UK's best songwriters and producers.

This book is a biography of Ron DeSantis, Florida's Governor who dared oppose Donald Trump and who inspires other Republican governors. The authors propose a non-partisan biography of the ambitious new Republican strongman.

This book uncovers the compelling story of a forgotten pioneer of women's sport. Born in 1884, Alice Milliat fought against societal barriers to organise the Women's World Games, promote women's football and lobby for women's athletics at the Olympics. The book sheds light on her fascinating life and celebrates the sportswomen she empowered.

The Fox: Harry Hopman and the Greatest Dynasty in Tennis History is the story of how one man drove a tiny nation to dominate a global sport. The Grand Slams, Wimbledon crowns and Davis Cups his players won made Australia famous. He was revered for his success but reviled for his methods. This book examines his many shades.

Never Say Die is the gripping story of Arthur 'Baby' Gore, a battling tennis player of the Edwardian era and the oldest ever winner of the Wimbledon singles title. Gore enjoyed an unparalleled 40-year career. This fascinating biography provides an unrivalled insight into the life and times of a forgotten great of English sport.

A fascinating insight into the complexity, history and unpredictability of Iraq.By September 2003, six months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the anarchy had begun. Rory Stewart, a young Biritish diplomat, was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority's deputy governor of a province of 850,000 people in the southern marshland region. There, he and his colleagues confronted gangsters, Iranian-linked politicians, tribal vendettas and a full Islamist insurgency. Occupational Hazards is Rory Stewart's inside account of the attempt to rebuild a nation, the errors made, the misunderstandings and insurmountable difficulties encountered. It reveals an Iraq hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers. Stewart is an award-winning writer, gifted with extraordinary insight into the comedy, occasional heroism and moral risks of foreign occupation. 'Beautifully written, highly evocative . . . a joy to read' John Simpson 'A marvellous book . . . a devastating narrative' Simon Jenkins 'Absolutely absorbing' Ken Loach 'Strikes gut and brain at once' James Meek 'Wonderfully observed, wise, evocative' Observer

A concise compendium of the lives and work of the 101 most significant Surrealists by one of the last surviving members of the movement, bestselling author and artist Desmond Morris, who knew several of the key participants personally.Featuring 101 Surrealist artists, including the famous - Duchamp, Dali, Magritte, Miro, Carrington, Kahlo, Picabia and Ernst - and the neglected - Mesens, Rimmington, Sage, Fini, Bellmer, Colquhoun and Gonzalez - the book draws on the author's personal knowledge of the Surrealists, capturing in concise form their life histories, idiosyncrasies and often-complex love lives. The arts of Surrealism were both spectacular and international, shaped by the darkest, most irrational workings of the unconscious. Shocking, witty and always entertaining, Morris's tales illuminate the striking variation in approaches to the Surrealist philosophy, both in the artists' work and in their lives. This book complements Morris's earlier biographical volumes by encapsulating each artist in completely new short texts that convey with immediacy the impact and significance of each of the artists featured.

Beautiful is a biography of Julian Eltinge, a female impersonator and major cultural figure who has been appropriated as, variously, a gay icon, a highly-closeted turncoat, and a emblem of an era when many of our contemporary ideas about sex and gender were just beginning to take shape.

Theophilus Opoku, a 19th-century pastor in the Gold Coast, wrote 37 reports to the Basel Mission between 1868 and 1908. In this volume, Gilbert and Jenkins introduce and annotate his detailed and vivid reports, which provide rare insight into conversion, rites, everyday life, and conflict in the kingdom of Akuapem.

For more than three decades, Damodar Padhi has used this time-tested and all weather resistant (read resilient) approach with great success.

Since signing her first recording contract at just sixteen, Taylor Swift has gone from a well-regarded country singer to a global pop phenomenon. Dubbed the 'world's biggest pop star, ' she is the first woman to have four albums in the Billboard chart's top ten at the same time, and as of 2023, thanks to her Eras Tour, the first live music billionaire.Beyond music, her cultural impact is vast, with her life dominating column inches like no other celebrity this century. The 'Taylor Swift factor' influences everything from regional economies through her ticket sales and tours, to guitar sales to women, and inspiring 65,000 people to register for voting ahead of the 2020 US elections.With stunning images and insightful text, The Essential...Taylor Swift details the key to her phenomenal success; from her bestselling song- writing talent to her business acumen and 'big sister' personality, and how she shifted from country to pop and dominated the music industry, while facing down misogyny and the haters.

An autobiography

Explore 500 years of the British royal family and how their portrayal has developed throughout the ages through beautiful artworks from the National Portrait Gallery's Collection.The Royals: Tudors to Windsors features some of the earliest works in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection alongside their most recent acquisitions. This beautiful publication includes a timeline of key events and is illustrated through photographs and paintings of the British royal family, from King Henry VIII to King Charles III. Discover how the monarchy have positioned themselves within images of strength, domesticity and love; from traditional paintings by Nicholas Hilliard and Joshua Reynolds, to modern-day photographs by Dorothy Wilding and Nadav Kander. An introduction by Rab MacGibbon explains the history of the British royal family and their continued relevance today. The Royals is a chronological, highly-illustrated book. Showcasing the Gallery's collection of royal portraiture, works are accompanied by captions that explore reigns, relationships, biographies and portraiture. This publication is the newest addition to the National Portrait Gallery's Royalty Book Collection.

Pioneer, activist, environmentalist, poet. Ethel Haythornthwaite is virtually unknown in her home town of Sheffield, yet her tireless campaigning led to the creation of green belts and the Peak District National Park. In Ethel, Helen Mort explores the life of this revolutionary who helped save the British countryside.

In this astonishing memoir, Susanna Elliot-Newth relives an unimaginable childhood, often stranger than fiction. Trapped in an acutely abusive family home under the watch of a mentally disordered mother and docile father, Susanna's existence is one of sheer survival. From a very tender age, Susanna is exposed to domestic slavery that includes shovelling snow and handwashing the family's laundry with insults for reward. Bent on destroying her daughter's sense of self-worth, Susanna recalls her mother's successful sabotage of cherished relationships and time-cured career plans for her own perverse satisfaction. While Looking Back Without Anger is a powerful story of the human will to survive, it also serves as an important history of a world before current advances in mental health studies; the utter devastation undiagnosed mental disorders can wreak on innocent lives and the criminal potential it unleashes in communities.

When Evert Small's brother-in-law brought him in to help work the seedier side of his Amsterdam coffee shops at the age of seventeen, it opened a whole new world of possibilities for him.A world of seven figure drug deals, flying all over the world, a home in every country and never having to worry about money.But when that world starts to take him into its seedy heart it becomes all too clear how Easy Cum, Easy Go material wealth really is.Written during occasional stints in prison, this is a no-holds-barred expose of a high-rolling life spent in and around the coffee shops and red-light district of Amsterdam as it became the city it is today.

An extremely timely reevaluation of the "lost" Labour Prime Minister. The man who set the course for the last Labour government, and in whom many see the future of the next.

"e;Brandreth is the true Samuel Pepys of our day."e; Andrew Neil, BBC Radio Five Live "e;Brandreth, for my money, offers about the most honest, and the most amusing, account of the demented, beery futility of the Tory-ruled Commons in the 1990s."e; Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph "e;Hilariously acute ... Irresistible."e; Matthew d'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph "e;Extremely touching ... Brandreth emerges as a decent, amusing, talented and charming man."e; Simon Heffer, Daily Mail "e;As a witty and insightful chronicler ... Brandreth is unsurpassed."e; Michael Simmons, The Spectator Gyles Brandreth's revealing journal paints an extraordinary portrait of Whitehall and Westminster in our time - warts and all. Brandreth - MP for Chester and government whip - enjoyed a ringside seat at the great political events of the 1990s, from the fall of Margaret Thatcher to the election of Tony Blair. With candid descriptions of the key figures of the era, from the leading players to the ministers who fell from grace, and a cast that includes the Queen, Bill Clinton and Joanna Lumley, these widely acclaimed diaries provide a fascinating insight into both the reality of modern government and the bizarre life of a parliamentary candidate and new MP. Controversially, Breaking the Code also contains the first ever insider's account of the hitherto secret world that is the Government Whips' Office. This new, complete edition features material previously excised for legal reasons, as well as additional diaries that take the story on another ten years to the departure of Tony Blair and the arrival as Tory leader of David Cameron - a bright young hopeful when Brandreth first meets him in 1993.

This first book on Kim Jong Uns powerful sister, tipped to be his successor, is a readable, jaw-dropping insight into a secretive and murderous dynasty.

The definitive biography of Liverpool legend and most famous Egyptian footballer in the history of the sport, Mohamed Salah.Salah's achievements are, in many ways, unparalleled. A Champions League and Premier League winner, he is a two-time African Footballer of the Year who straddles two worlds. The first is the continent he comes from, as well as the Middle East. The second is Europe, where he has broken all sorts of goalscoring records at Liverpool, helping him to become the most identifiable Muslim player on the planet.And yet, despite his consistent success on the pitch, record-breaking playing, team victories and popular persona, little is known about the Liverpool forward, or the competing forces around him. That is, until now. Award-winning football journalist and author Simon Hughes expertly pieces together a fascinating portrait of this enigmatic football icon. From his relationships with his teammates to what motivates him; from how the events of the past decade in Egypt have impacted his life, to what's next in his career - Chasing Salah reveals all.

A remarkable and unique memoir encapsulating, through the story of his career, Steph Curry's philosophies and strategies about life, work, and basketball, and the nature of high-performance and success.