The Ferris Conspiracy


Paul Ferris - 2001
    How did he become Glasgow's most feared gangster, deemed a risk to national security?Arthur Thompson, Godfather of the crime world and senior partner of the Krays, recruited young Ferris as a bagman, debt collector and equaliser. Feared for his capacity for extreme violence, respected for his intelligence, Ferris was the Godfather's heir apparent. But when gang warfare broke, underworld leaders traded in flesh, colluding with their partners - the police. Disgusted, Ferris left the Godfather and stood alone. They gave him weeks to live.While Ferris was caged in Barlinnie Prison's segregation unit accused of murdering Thompson's son, Fatboy, his two friends were shot dead the night before the funeral and grotesquely displayed in a car on the cortége's route. Acquitted against all the odds, Ferris moved on, determined to make an honest living.They would not let him.The National Crime Squad, MI5, the police and two of the country's most powerful gangsters saw to that. A maximum-security prisoner, Ferris is known as 'Lucky' because he is still alive.This is one man's unique insight into Britain's crime world and the inextricable web of corruption - a revealing story of official corruption and unholy alliances.

Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose


Joe Biden - 2017
    And in so doing, he offers something for everyone, no matter which strand draws you in.”—The New York Times Book ReviewIn November 2014, thirteen members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past forty years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden’s eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor fifteen months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. “Promise me, Dad,” Beau had told his father. “Give me your word that no matter what happens, you’re going to be all right.” Joe Biden gave him his word.Promise Me Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s extraordinary life and career. As vice president, Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad—“Joe, I need your help”—he responded. For twelve months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016.The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama.Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop.This is a book written not just by the president, but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.

Marley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley


James Henke - 2006
    In the same interactive format as the best-selling Lennon Legend, this innovative book features rare photographs and 20 removable facsimiles, including Marley's handwritten lyrics and concert memorabilia, even a private sketchbook. The package also includes a 50-minute spoken word CD featuring archival Marley interviews. Rock journalist James Henke relates the dramatic story of Marley's life, from his impoverished childhood in Jamaica's Trenchtown to his spiritual awakening through Rastafarianism, his multinational musical success, and his death from cancer at age 36. In addition to interviews with Marley's family and associates conducted especially for this book, Henke includes thoughts on favorite Marley songs from such diverse artists as U2's Bono, Sean Paul, Ben Harper, and Chrissie Hynde. Marley's message was one of love, peace, and equalityand in words and pictures, Marley Legend shows why Bob Marley is, as Entertainment Weekly recently called him, "still the world's biggest rock star."

Chloe Sims: The Only Way Is Up: My Story


Chloe Sims - 2012
    But there is more to Chloe than viewers see on the TV, and the drama doesn’t stop when the camera stops rolling. Just two years ago, Chloe was a single mother struggling to make ends meet doing a string of jobs she hated and wondering if she would ever find happiness. Since joining the cast of The Only Way Is Essex, her life is now a whirlwind of glitzy parties and jet-set holidays, but life hasn’t always dealt Chloe a good hand. Her story is one of triumph over adversity, with plenty of laughs along the way. From her turbulent childhood where she was raised by a neighbor after her mother abandoned her, to battling with bullies and struggling with an eating disorder, to the magical moment when she met the man of her dreams.

Bronze


Kerri-Anne Weston - 2012
    She and her friends from Nobby’s Beach are the first women in Australia to gain their Bronze medallions for Surf Life Saving. On the eve of the year 1981 on the Gold Coast, Australia, this active teenager’s life is about to shatter and transform her once perfect world into one of despair as she tackles a life of paralysis. Through the support of her friends and family, Kerri will find her way back to the water and into the history books.A memoir filled with joy, tears, letters and poetry of a time when all else seemed lost. A life of hopes, dreams, love and humility learned.

Jim Morrison: Dark Star


Dylan Jones - 1990
    Part poet, part clown, part modern-day Renaissance man, Morrison created an image that was ultimately his undoing. Though he died more than twenty years ago, Jim Morrison still has the power to fascinate. He remains one of youth culture's most revered heroes--a hero who got out just in time.

Rememberings


Sinead O'Connor - 2021
    Her recording of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U made her a global icon. She outraged millions when she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on American television.O'Connor was unapologetic and impossible to ignore, calling out hypocrisy wherever she saw it.She has remained that way for three decades.Now, in Rememberings, O'Connor tells her story - the heartache of growing up in a family falling apart; her early forays into the Dublin music scene; her adventures and misadventures in the world of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll; the fulfilment of being a mother; her ongoing spiritual quest - and through it all, her abiding passion for music.Rememberings is intimate, replete with candid anecdotes and full of hard-won insights. It is a unique and remarkable chronicle by a unique and remarkable artist.

A Doctor in Africa


Andrew Browning - 2021
    Andrew began his African career in the 1990s working with the late Dr Catherine Hamlin and since then has started the Barbara May Foundation, which has built hospitals, trained staff and established programs to heal fistulas and also prevent them from occurring around Africa in the world's most disadvantaged women.Two million African women are estimated to be suffering with obstetric fistulas. They are often made outcasts in their own community, unable to leave their homes and left with little prospect of a happy, fulfilling life. Andrew's operations, and the spread of fistula-skilled surgeons he is training across the continent, don't just relieve the emotional and physical pain of the women affected, but give them hope and a future.A Doctor in Africa is the uplifting story of Andrew's life, from the challenges faced along the way to the stories of the women whose lives he has forever changed.All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to the Barbara May Foundation.Praise for A Doctor in Africa'Andrew's compassion for the women of Africa will inspire and uplift you. Written with warmth and enormous empathy, this book will make you cry - often with tears of joy - and on turning the page have you laughing out loud. A Doctor in Africa is a masterpiece in compassion, sensitivity and caring.' Dame Ann Gloag DBE. Founder, Freedom From Fistula'Andrew Browning's deep compassion and wonderful surgical skills have given new life to thousands of mothers suffering severe, often horrific childbirth injuries. This Australian doctor has dedicated his life to helping women in Ethiopia, Tanzania and right throughout Africa and beyond regain their dignity and place in society.' Dr Robert Tong AM, Chair, Hamlin Fistula Australia'Through Dr Browning's astonishing work, countless women shunned even by their own communities are healed, and rivers of tears are turned to laughter and joy. You will cry, you will weep, you will be aghast, but ultimately you will thank God for people like Andrew Browning. Read this if you want your heart broken, then sewn back together richer and pumping with gratitude.' Canon Tim Swan, CEO Anglican Aid'Dr Andrew Browning is known to us as "the surgeon of difficult cases". In his book, he brings us real stories of the victims of fistula, but with restored good health. Andrew is a compassionate, skilled, devoted, young surgeon who has brought hope and dignity to many vulnerable African women. He awakens our inner being, moving us to become more compassionate.' Sister Dr Imelda Nabukalu, Deputy Medical Director Kitovu Mission Hospital, Masaka, Uganda'Following in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Dr Catherine Hamlin, Dr Andrew Browning's extraordinary life is as fascinating as it is inspiring. Dr Browning is living out his faith by giving the priceless gift of health to multitudes of African women suffering horrendous injuries simply for trying to bring a child into the world.' Kate Grant, CEO of the Fistula Foundation USA'I urge you to take up this wonderful read and find your heart deeply thankful and your mind wonderfully informed. The work that Andrew has been doing is a bright signpost to the God he serves. If there is a more thrilling description of what one Aussie doctor has seen and done in African villages to get women restored and rejoicing I'd like to know about it. This book is one of the best antidotes to despondency and doubt I have ever read.' Simon Manchester, Former Rector, St Thomas Anglican Church North Sydney'Andrew's deep connection with Africa, the land and her people is both confronting and inspiring. Restoring dignity to a marginalised woman is powerful for that individual and her society. His message is one of joy, and hope for a better world.' Dr Vijay Roach, President, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists'Like an Odysseus of modern Africa, Andrew Browning's extensive, interesting and compassion-rich travels with his family to care for local women are also amazing for their rugged versatility and adventurous brio. An exciting story off the beaten track, both literally and medically.' Richard Hamlin'It has been a privilege to know and work with Dr Andrew Browning. He has been a mentor, role model and great fistula surgeon. He has surrendered his life to help fistula patients. His dedication in fistula work has brought smiles to thousands of women. His life story is inspirational and I would wish to walk in his footsteps.' Dr James J. Chapa, MD, MMed (Obs/Gyn), MPH, Fistula Surgeon and FIGO Accredited Trainer, CCBRT Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The Roaring Silence: John Cage: A Life


David Revill - 1992
    His work and ideas - about silence, indeterminacy, nonintention, art's role in bringing the everyday object to our attention, the singularity of performance - have had influence not only in the world of music but also in dance, painting, printmaking, video art, and poetry. As an exponent of Zen Buddhism since the early fifties, he has had an important role in introducing Zen spirituality to the American artworld and general culture. Among his friends and collaborators have been longtime associate Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Marcel Duchamp, Morton Feldman, Pierre Boulez, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Those who have acknowledged his influence in their work range from minimalist composer Philip Glass to rock musicians David Byrne and Brian Eno. The Roaring Silence is the first full-length biography of John Cage. Written with Cage's full cooperation, it documents his life in unrivaled detail, interweaving a close account of the evolution of his work with an exploration of his aesthetic and philosophical ideas. David Revill never assumes specialist knowledge on the part of the reader, but sets Cage's work in the context of his personal development and contemporary culture. He draws on numerous interviews with Cage and his associates. Paying due attention to Cage's inventions, such as the prepared piano, and his pioneering use of indeterminate notation and chance operations in composition (utilizing the I Ching), Revill also illuminates Cage the performer, printmaker, watercolorist, expert amateur mycologist, game show celebrity, and political anarchist, and discusses his pronouncements on social and environmental issues. The biography includes comprehensive chronologies of his musical and visual works. Arnold Schoenberg once called Cage, his former student, "not a composer but an inventor - of genius." David Revill shows how this multifacete

There's Something Happening Here: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield For What It's Worth


John Einarson - 1997
    Eye-witness perspective of founding band member Richie Furay, the story of an influential group, pop culture, and politics in the 60's and 70's.

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music


Dave Grohl - 2021
    The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child. This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.

Lulu: I Don't Want to Fight


Lulu - 2002
    At the age of 15, in 1964, Lulu - born Marie Lawrie in Glasgow - was already a star with her international hit song 'Shout'. At 18 she stole hearts as an English schoolgirl to Sidney Poitier's teacher with the movie hit 'To Sir With Love'. At 21, she married a Bee Gee, Maurice Gibb, and tied as winner of the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Boom-Bang-a-Bang'. Yet in 1993 she reached No.1 with 'Relight My Fire' (with Take That). Nearly forty years at the top of the showbiz tree, Lulu has never been afraid to experiment with new trends, and her book reflects the daring that took a girl from a Glasgow tenement to international stardom - as 'To Sir With Love' says, 'from crayons to perfume'.I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT (the title of a song Lulu wrote and Tina Turner recorded) is the devastatingly candid autobiography of a singer who has never shirked from facing anything.

Ed Sheeran - Divide and Conquer


David Nolan - 2017
    And yet that's exactly what he's achieved, winning plenty of awards (and hearts) along the way. But how did a young musician go from selling CDs from his rucksack to becoming the millennial record-breaking international stadium act?Tracing his story from his bohemian childhood in Yorkshire and Suffolk to the release of his third album Divide, music journalist David Nolan chronicles Sheeran's musical life and times. Featuring exclusive interviews with friends, relatives, musical collaborators and key figures in his rise to stardom, Divide and Conquer tells the story of how Ed Sheeran went from school drop-out to one of the world's most successful musicians.

The Great Romantic: Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus


Duncan Hamilton - 2019
    Between two world wars, he became the laureate of cricket by doing the same with words.In The Great Romantic, award-winning author Duncan Hamilton demonstrates how Cardus changed sports journalism for ever. While popularising cricket – while appealing, in Cardus’ words to people who ‘didn’t know a leg-break from the pavilion cat at Lord’s’- he became a star in his own right with exquisite phrase-making, disdain for statistics and a penchant for literary and musical allusions.Among those who venerated Cardus were PG Wodehouse, John Arlott, Harold Pinter, JB Priestley and Don Bradman. However, behind the rhapsody in blue skies, green grass and colourful characters, this richly evocative biography finds that Cardus’ mother was a prostitute, he never knew his father and he received negligible education. Infatuations with younger women ran parallel to a decidedly unromantic marriage. And, astonishingly, the supreme stylist’s aversion to factual accuracy led to his reporting on matches he never attended.Yet Cardus also belied his impoverished origins to prosper in a second class-conscious profession, becoming a music critic of international renown. The Great Romantic uncovers the dark enigma within a golden age.

Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being


Romesh Ranganathan - 2018
    In 2010, Ranganathan staged his epic comeback gig to an almost silent room, and has since gone on to earn his place as the most in-demand overweight vegan Sri Lankan comedian in Britain.Now, for the first time, he tells the full story of how he got here. From the delights of Sri Lankan hospitality to his struggles as a child, teacher and now parent, to his adolescent flirtation with a rap career and his attempts to make it in comedy, Straight Outta Crawley is Ranganathan's hilarious and irreverent autobiography.