An arresting collection of interviews, collated by Norma Farnes, Spike Milligan's close friend and longstanding agent, bringing to life the late, great Milligan in all his various guises.
Max Hastings's account of his family's tumultuous 20th century experiences embraces the worlds of fashion and newspapers, theatre and TV, pioneering in Africa and even - his father's most exotic 1960 stunt - being cast away on a desert island in the Indian Ocean.
The amazing life story of the enfant terrible of tennis in the 1970s and 80s - winner of two Grand Slam titles, three Grand Slam doubles titles and twice a Wimbledon finalist.
Much like The Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs Of Christmas, The Stories Behind The Great Traditions of Christmas and More Stories Behind The Best Loved Songs of Christmas this new Collins Christmas book will fill a void in the book world.
Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts reveals the untold stories of his journey--from obscurity to becoming one of America's most successful and beloved country music artists--that will rally your own courage to find hope where you least expect it.
A firsthand look into Kim Walker-Smith's journey from a place of shame and fear to stages around the world where she boldly proclaims the unconditional love of God.
Keyboardist and songwriter with the band Journey, Jonathan Cain writes this long-awaited memoir about his personal story of overcoming and faith, his career with one of the most successful musical groups in history, and the stories behind his greatest hits including "e;Don't Stop Believin'.
Between Heaven & Hollywood is David's inspirational journey from the wheat fields of his Mennonite home outside of Dodge City Kansas, to the bright lights of Los Angeles.
Former Metallica guitarist and founding member of Megadeth Dave Mustaine talks for the first time about his life in rock 'n' roll, finally telling the inside story of two of the most influential heavy metal bands in the world.
An intimate portrait of London intellectual life, the breakdown of a marriage and the friendship between two women, 'What You Will' draws the reader into a spellbinding world of beauty and tension.
The candid and heartbreakingly honest memoir of Sylvia Kristel, the cinema icon of the 1970s who played the lead role in the worldwide sensation erotic Emmanuelle films.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a spirited portrait of the colorful, irrepressible, and iconoclastic American collector who fearlessly advanced the cause of modern art One of twentieth-century America’s most influential patrons of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) brought to wide public attention the work of such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.
An invaluable companion for any writer seeking to make the writing life a more complex and cooperative venture "e;Illuminating, deeply endearing essays.
A great theater critic brings twentieth-century playwright Arthur Miller's dramatic story to life with bold and revealing new insights "e;Lahr's cogent analyses are revelatory.
A major biography of one of the most important figures in modern drama, evoked through a biographical reading of his plays Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen achieved unparalleled success in his lifetime and remains one of the most important figures in modern drama.
Ben Hecht’s critically acclaimed autobiographical memoir, first published in 1954, offers incomparably pungent evocations of Chicago in the 1910s and 1920s, Hollywood in the 1930s, and New York during the Second World War and after.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an exuberant biography of the world’s greatest escape artist In 1916, the war in Europe having prevented a tour abroad, Harry Houdini wrote a film treatment for a rollicking motion picture.
A portrait of empire through the biographies of a Native American, a Pacific Islander, and the British artist who painted them both Three interconnected eighteenth-century lives offer a fresh account of the British empire and its intrusion into Indigenous societies.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, the portrait of a humble retail magnate whose visionary ideas about charitable giving transformed the practice of philanthropy in America and beyond Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) rose from modest means as the son of a peddler to meteoric wealth at the helm of Sears, Roebuck.
The second volume of Michel Leiris’s hugely influential four-volume autobiographical essay, available to English-language readers in a brilliant and sensitive translation by Lydia Davis One of the most versatile and beloved French intellectuals of the twentieth century, Michel Leiris reconceives the autobiography as a literary experiment that sheds light on the mechanisms of memory and on the way the unconnected events of a life become connected through invented narrative.
A dazzling translation by Lydia Davis of the first volume of Michel Leiris’s masterwork, perhaps the most important French autobiographical enterprise of the twentieth century Michel Leiris, a French intellectual whose literary works inspired high praise from the likes of Simone de Beauvoir and Claude Lévi-Strauss, began the first volume of his autobiographical project at the age of 40.
An award-winning scholar and author charts four hundred years of monsters and how they reflect the culture that created them Leo Braudy, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, has won accolades for revealing the complex and constantly shifting history behind seemingly unchanging ideas of fame, war, and masculinity.
The extraordinary story of African American composer Edmond Dédé, raised in antebellum New Orleans, and his remarkable career in France In 1855, Edmond Dédé, a free black composer from New Orleans, emigrated to Paris.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an enthralling appreciation of the monumentally gifted popular artist and cultural icon who challenged Hollywood’s standards of beauty and glamour Barbra Streisand has been called the “most successful.
An engrossing new biography of the musical revolutionary who was the world’s first international megastar Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was an anomaly.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a spirited portrait of the colorful, irrepressible, and iconoclastic American collector who fearlessly advanced the cause of modern art One of twentieth-century America’s most influential patrons of the arts, Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) brought to wide public attention the work of such modern masters as Jackson Pollock and Man Ray.
The powerfully moving story of the Russian Jewish choreographer who used dance to challenge despotism Everyone has heard of George Balanchine, but few outside Russia know of Leonid Yakobson, Balanchine’s contemporary and arguably his equal, who remained in Lenin’s Russia and survived censorship during the darkest days of Stalin.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fresh appreciation of the great musical figure that gives him his due as composer as well as conductor Leonard Bernstein stood at the epicenter of twentieth-century American musical life.
Romanian exile Norman Manea’s internationally acclaimed memoir/novel, now available to English-language readers At the center of The Hooligan’s Return is the author himself, always an outcast, on a bleak lifelong journey through Nazism and communism to exile in America.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an illuminating new biography of the connoisseur who changed the art world and the way we see art When Gilded Age millionaires wanted to buy Italian Renaissance paintings, the expert whose opinion they sought was Bernard Berenson, with his vast erudition, incredible eye, and uncanny skill at attributing paintings.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a film-centric portrait of the extraordinarily gifted movie director whose decades-long influence on American popular culture is unprecedented “Everything about me is in my films,” Steven Spielberg has said.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fast-moving, musically astute portrait of arguably the greatest composer of American popular music Irving Berlin (1888–1989) has been called—by George Gershwin, among others—the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song.
From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a riveting portrait of the great Sarah Bernhardt from acclaimed writer Robert Gottlieb Everything about Sarah Bernhardt is fascinating, from her obscure birth to her glorious career—redefining the very nature of her art—to her amazing (and highly public) romantic life to her indomitable spirit.
The definitive biography of the celebrated composer, published in English to coincide with the centenary of his death A best seller when first published in Germany in 2003, Jens Malte Fischer's Gustav Mahler has been lauded by scholars as a landmark work.
The first comprehensive biography of Mary Granville Delany – the artist and court insider whose flower collages, in particular, continue to inspire widespread admiration Mrs Delany is best remembered for her captivating paper collages of flowers, but her artistic flourishing came late in life.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE'An intense, succulent read that's intermittently dazzling' THE TIMES'Chilling, exquisitely moving' DAILY TELEGRAPH'A superb memoir - and one of the best books on addiction I have ever read' EVENING STANDARDA.