Biographies

In The Trigger Men, bestselling author Martin Dillon delves into the dark and sinister world of Irish terrorism and counter-terrorism.

An autobiography of Woody Guthrie, founder of modern American folk music. This book presents a cynical, earthy and tragic account of his life in an Oklahoma oil-boom town, of the Depression that followed, and of his subsequent travels in, on, and under trains, in stolen cars and on his feet, round an America going rotten from the top downwards.

The first publication of Kurt Cobain's diaries, which were found after his death in 1994. Genuinely moving, provocative and candid, and suprisingly funny, pieces of writing which, as a whole, provide a unique account of the rise and fall of a greatpopular artist and icon.

WONDERLAND AVENUE is the careering autobiography of someone who wilfully, skilfully and enthusiastically abused all the cards that life dealt.

When the Englishman learned that someone was asking about him, he introduced himself to Pearson, who persuaded him to write his story - a story even more extraordinary than that of the Krays. Because the Englishman is the only man of non-Italian blood to be admitted to the heart of the Mafia.

In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and waited to see what would happen. When he opened his eyes everything, from the flowers in a vase to the creases in his trousers, was transformed.

It is the true story of the rise of one of the most violent and successful criminal gangs of the 90's whose reign of terror was finally terminated when the three leaders were brutally murdered in their Range Rover one winter's evening. On their way they had built the drug-dealing organisation that which supplied the pill that killed Leah Betts.

Brought up amid near-Dickensian squalour in the tough East End of Glasgow and sexually abused by her uncle, Janey married into a Glasgow criminal family as a teenager, then found herself having to cope with the murder of her mother, violence, religious sectarianism, abject poverty and a frightening family of in-laws.First-hand, Janey saw the gangland violence and met extraordinary characters within an enclosed and seldom-revealed Glasgow underworld - from the grim and far-from-Swinging 60s, to the discos of the 70s, to the tidal wave of heroin addiction which swept through and engulfed Glasgow's East End during the 1980s.This evocative, intimate and moving portrayal of a woman forced to fight every day for her family's future will strike a chord with anyone who has ever struggled against adversity.

William Cavendish, courageous, cultured and passionate about women, embodies the popular image of a cavalier. Famously defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, he went into a long and miserable continental exile before returning to England in triumph on the restoration of King Charles II to the throne in 1660.Lucy Worsley brings to life a fascinating household of the 17th century, painting a picture of conspiracy, sexual intrigue, clandestine marriage and gossip. From Ben Jonson and Van Dyck to a savage, knife-wielding master-cook, Cavalier is a brilliant illumination of the stately home in England and all its many colourful inhabitants.

Winston and Clementine Churchill wrote to each other constantly throughout the 57 years of their life together. Written solely for each others eyes, their letters serve as a revealing portrait of their characters and their relationship, and as a unique political and social history, as international affairs were rarely absent from their thoughts.

The classic biography of Debs, one of the most important thinkers and activists in US.

In December 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys firm were executed in their Range Rover after being lured to a deserted farm track by the promise of a lucrative drug deal. This book tells the true story of the gang that destroyed everything that stood in their way to take control of their fallen predecessors' drug empire.

Generation Kill is about the young men sent to fight their nation's first open-ended war since Vietnam. Generation Kill is not just a combat chronicle but an inside look at how people fighting in war actually experience it.

He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court - but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game.

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was an exceptional woman in an age rich in strong personalities. A feminist, intrepid traveller and sportswoman, she wrote nine volumes of autobiography, recounting a life packed with incident. Her writings, abridged by Ronald Crichton, and including a catalogue of her music, are full of brilliant portraits.

MAKE MINE MUSIC

You couldn't make it up: incredible real-life criminal casesA fascinating A-Z of murderous crimes which spans the globe and the centuries in uncovering the extremes of human criminality in all its strangeness.This collection of unusual, if not sensational, murder cases recalls strange crimes of the past and offers insights into particularly macabre and shocking modern murders. Many of the cases also shed light on advances in crime detection, law enforcement and forensic science. Cases include: Krystian Bala, the Polish writer who killed a rival, and then used the murder as the plot for a novel; Alexander Pichuskin, who was stopped one short of killing the 64 victims he needed to 'fill a chess board'; John Lee, 'the man they could not hang' who survived three attempts to execute him; and Adelaide Bartlett, who was accused of killing her husband with chloroform, but was acquitted because no one could work out how she had done it - and she wouldn't say.

This book not only uncovers how the tactics of aerial warfare have changed through each major conflict of modern times, but also the dramatic narrative allows the reader to feel like they were there in the skies, flying alongside these incredible pilots.

From a wartime beach in Wales to the gleaming skyscrapers of twenty-first-century Manhattan, the extraordinary career of Fleet Street legend Harold Evans has spanned five decades of tumultuous social, political and creative change. Just how did a working class Lancashire boy, who failed the eleven-plus, rise to a position where he could so effectively give voice to the unheard?Born in the bleak years between the wars in the sprawl of Greater Manchester into a thrifty, diligent and loving family, Evans inherited only the privilege of his parents' example. Theirs was a work ethic that led Evans through night school classes, national service and a passionate commitment to regional life, and, finally, to his unassailably successful editorship of one of our greatest newspapers, the Sunday Times. Whether unpicking the murderous chaos of Bloody Sunday, pursuing a foreign correspondent's murderers or uncovering the atrocity of Thalidomide, this consummate newsman evokes his contagious passion: for the real story and the truth.

The bestselling true crime classic from the creator of The Wire

The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 - shot and beaten to death, his body set on fire and left smouldering in his own glebe field - gripped everyone from the Home Secretary in London to newspapermen across the country.

In the summer of 2000, Jane Steare received the phone call every mother dreads. Her daughter Lucie Blackman - tall, blonde, and twenty-one years old - had stepped into the vastness of a Tokyo summer and disappeared forever. That winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult?

Her brilliant, disturbing fiction shows her deep understanding of the longing and struggle in women's lives. This masterly new biography draws on new material and delves into every aspect of Wharton's extraordinary life-story.

Kitchen Confidential is a captivating book penned by the renowned author, Anthony Bourdain. Published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, this book delves into the thrilling and often unseen world of culinary arts. Bourdain, with his characteristic wit and candor, takes the reader on an unforgettable journey behind the scenes of restaurant kitchens, revealing both the highs and lows of the food industry. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the genre of culinary literature. It offers an insightful, no-holds-barred view of what it truly means to be a chef. Kitchen Confidential is a testament to Bourdain's love for food and his respect for those who dedicate their lives to creating it. Read it to explore the culinary world through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures.

'The figure looking back at me was little more than a skeleton with just a thin layer of tissue paper for skin, drawn over the stick-like bones. I stood staring for a good couple of minutes, considering what I'd become. And my verdict? Brilliant, I thought. It's been worth every moment of all that hard work.'

Jack and Michael Whitehall perform their laugh-out-loud autobiography Him & Me as a unique dual voiced comedy audiobook, filled with ad-libs, asides, and comic dialogue to create a uniquely funny listen. Jack and Michael open up the rich and plentiful family lore archives on topics such as Jacks nannys enormous feet, Michaels lifetime touchline ban from Jacks prep-school and the Whitehall collection of downright weird and eccentric relatives. With family photographs and sketches by Jack himself, the result is a hugely entertaining insight into a hilarious and sometimes bumpy journey of self-discovery and into the unique relationship between a father and a son. The devotees that adore and worship Jack are already embracing his lovably grumpy father, who is rather enjoying his newfound fame. Watch out, fans of Reeves & Mortimer, Walliams & Lucas, Morecambe & Wise, theres a new comedy duo in town. This edition features an extra final chapter, recorded exclusively for Audible listeners.

His story, based on new archival sources and told with verve and wit, is sure to become the definitive work on a man and his era.

Saxon brings together more than 300 letters written by the self-styled "Prince of Humbugs." Here we see him, opinionated and exuberant, with only the rarest flashes of introspection and self-doubt, haggling with business partners, blustering over politics, and attempting to get such friends as Mark Twain to endorse his latest schemes.

On 1 August 2008, thirty-four climbers from seven international expeditions joined forces in their attempt to reach the summit of K2. Tragedy struck and for three days Sherpa Pemba Gyalje and others tried to save the lives of those around them. A gripping eye-witness account of one of mountaineerings most controversial disasters.