Selvbiografier

The tempestuous, scandalous love affair of the 20th century's Romeo and Juliet was second in fame and notoriety only to that of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and by many accounts, even more corrupt. This title deals with this topic.

With a meticulous, entirely legal plan involving dozens of people, perfectly timed phone calls, sealed orders and months of preparation, Curley and Yellow Sam beat the bookmakers and cost them millions.

Bruce Barton's 1925 effort to reconfigure Jesus for the Roaring Twenties turned into one of the great best-sellers of the century. No Puritan or Prohibitionist, here was Christ as the world's first advertising man, a great business executive who "picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world." In his Introduction, Richard M. Fried explores the book's rich insights into the culture of the 1920s.

Before publishing his book How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis (1849-1914) spent his first years in the US as an immigrant and itinerant laborer, until he landed a job as a muckraking reporter. This book places Jacob Riis' images in historical context. It explores Riis' reporting and activism within the gritty specifics of Gilded Age New York.

The exclusive world of one of the twentieth century's most glamorous and alluring women, as seen through her private homes and gardens.

From an early age, Richard Hell dreamed of running away. He arrived penniless in New York City at seventeen; ten years later he was a pivotal voice of the age of punk, cofounding such seminal bands as Television, The Heartbreakers, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids—whose song "Blank Generation" remains the defining anthem of the era, an era that would forever alter popular culture in all its forms. How this legendary downtown artist went from a bucolic childhood in the idyllic Kentucky foothills to igniting a movement that would take over New York and London''s restless youth culture—cementing CBGB as the ground zero of punk and spawning the careers of not only Hell himself, but a cohort of friends such as Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith, the Ramones, and Debby Harry—is a mesmerizing chronicle of self-invention, and of Hell''s yearning for redemption through poetry, music, and art. An acutely rendered, unforgettable coming-of-age story, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp evokes with feeling, lyricism, and piercing intelligence both the world that shaped him and the world he shaped.

With 30 million records sales to his name, Bobby Womack stood shoulder to shoulder with Ray Charles, James Brown and Marvin Gaye as a true giant of Soul, R&B and Blues music. His life story is an incredible, colourful and moving piece of music history. Honest, insightful and unflinching, this is the authentic voice of a music legend.

Perry Como put aside his career as a barber to become one of the top American crooners of the 20th century and also one of the first multimedia stars. His record sales exceeded 100 million. In 1948, Como was the first popular singer to cross over to television and The Perry Como Show became the benchmark for a broadcast music and variety show. Como's career illuminates developments in the music and television business in the middle of the last century. This biography features 73 photographs, a complete discography, a listing of all television appearances, and a year by year chronology of Perry Como's life from 1912 to 2001.

World Snooker Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's frank and honest account of his astonishingly dramatic life.

NATIONAL BESTSELLERMarc Maron is "a master of spinning humor out of anguish" (Bookforum), even when that anguish is pretty clearly self-inflicted. In Attempting Normal, he threads together twenty-five stories from his life and near-death, from his first comedy road trips (with a fugitive junkie comic with a missing tooth) to his love affair with feral animals (his cat rescues are bloody epics) to his surprisingly moving tales of lust, heartbreak, and hope. The stories are united by Maron's thrilling storytelling style-intensely smart, disarmingly honest, and explosively funny. Together, they add up to a hilarious and moving tale of failing, flailing, and finding a way.Praise for Attempting Normal "I laughed so hard reading this book."-David Sedaris "Funny . . . surprisingly deep . . . laced with revelatory insights."-Los Angeles Times "Superb . . . A reason that [it] is a superior example of an overcrowded genre-the comedian memoir-is Mr. Maron's hardheaded approach to his history, the wisdom of experience."-The New York Times "Marc Maron is a legend because he is both a great comic and a brilliant mind. Attempting Normal is a deep, hilarious megashot of feeling and truth as only this man can administer."-Sam Lipsyte Praise for Marc Maron and WTF "The stuff of comedy legend."-Rolling Stone "Marc Maron is a startlingly honest, compelling, and hilarious comedian-poet. Truly one of the greatest of all time."-Louis C.K. "I've known Marc for years and I can tell you first hand that he's passionate, fearless, honest, self-absorbed, neurotic, and screamingly funny."-David Cross "Revered among his peers . . . raw and unflinchingly honest."-Entertainment Weekly"Devastatingly funny."-Los Angeles Times "For a comedy nerd, this show is nirvana."-Judd Apatow

Biography of Oxford Classics don who led intriguing life.

A tender and moving account of Jean-Michel Basquiat's life as seen through the eyes of his muse

You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed... In Levels of Life Julian Barnes gives us Nadar, the pioneer balloonist and aerial photographer; then, finally, he gives us the story of his own grief, unflinchingly observed. This is a book of intense honesty and insight;

When Elspeth Huxley's pioneer father buys a remote plot of land in Kenya, the family sets off to discover their new home: five hundred acres of Kenyan scrubland, infested with ticks and white ants, and quavering with heat.

"Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is among the most enigmatic and influential figures of the twentieth century. While his life and work are crucial to any understanding of modern history and the socialist movement, generations of writers on the left and the right have seen fit to embalm him endlessly with superficial analysis or dreary dogma. Now, after the fall of the Soviet Union and 'actually-existing' socialism, it is possible to consider Lenin afresh, with sober senses trained on his historical context and how it shaped his theoretical and political contributions. Reconstructing Lenin, four decades in the making and now available in English for the first time, is an attempt to do just that. Tamaas Krausz, an esteemed Hungarian scholar writing in the tradition of Gyeorgy Lukaacs, Ferenc Tiokei, and Istvaan Maeszaaros, makes a major contribution to a growing field of contemporary Lenin studies. This rich and penetrating account reveals Lenin busy at the work of revolution, his thought shaped by immediate political events but never straying far from a coherent theoretical perspective. Krausz balances detailed descriptions of Lenin's time and place with lucid explications of his intellectual development, covering a range of topics like war and revolution, dictatorship and democracy, socialism and utopianism. Reconstructing Lenin will change the way you look at a man and a movement; it will also introduce the English-speaking world to a profound radical scholar"--Provided by publisher.

In this first-ever biography of the star, David O'Dornan reveals the amazing highs and lows of Danny's personal and professional life and speaks to music industry experts and artists to find out more about the man behind the music that is adored by so many. This is a must-read book for any fan, or as Danny likes to call them, 'The Script Family'.

As he films the final episode, actor David Suchet recalls his experience of playing Agatha Christie's world-famous detective, Hercule Poirot, for almost a quarter of a century.

The extraordinary life of the man who founded Islam, and the world he inhabited - and remade.

The amazing life of Madness frontman and national treasure, Suggs

Drawing heavily on their 15-year correspondence, this book is the first English-language biography of Carlos Kleiber ever written. Charles Barber offers unique insights into how Kleiber worked. This biography considers Kleiber's singular aesthetic, his playful and often erudite sense of humor, his reputation for perfectionism, his much-studied baton technique, and the famous concert and opera performances he conducted. It explores the great conductor's musical lineage and the contemporary contexts in which he worked, and it repudiates myths that inevitably crop up around genius and reflects on Kleiber's contribution to modern musical performance.

Finally in paperback comes Mo' Meta Blues Questlove's New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed psychedelic, punch-drunk memoir

In this extraordinary memoir we look at Africa's wonders through the eyes of a visionary, live through hair-raising adventure and personal sorrow, and also bear witness to a natural world now largely lost from view.

Tommy Porter, came into this world whilst the Second World War was in full flow. His home was the heavily bombed docks area of Liverpool called Bootle.Poverty was rife and times were hard for Tommy and his family; but life was good and his was full of love and fun. Until, that is, tragedy struck the family. This is the true story of how two brothers endured the cruel world of the children's homes and orphanages of the time. An inspiring story of love, sadness and the unbreakable bond between brothers which simply must be read.

After his conversion, this African boy is sent by God to prepare an American university for its mission in the world.

An autobiography of George Grosz, one of the twentieth century's greatest satirical artists. It presents a graphic portrait of Germany in chaos after the Treaty of Versailles. It includes a chapter on Grosz's experience in the Soviet Union as well as writings about his twenty-year self-imposed exile in America, and a fable written in English.

The long-awaited memoir of Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp, whose autobiography is as unique and special as the player himself

From the time she saw the movie Fame, the author wanted to be a star. A line from the theme song stayed with her - 'I'm gonna live for ever, I'm gonna learn how to fly.' This book gives us the chance to fly alongside her on her journey from lonely teenager to international star.