Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for the Real James Brown

Description

'A formidable free-style book that isn't straight biography but a mix of history, street-level investigative reporting, hagiography, Deep South sociology, music criticism, memoir and some fiery preaching' Rolling Stone magazine A Guardian best music book of 2016 The music of James Brown was almost a genre in its own right, and he was one of the biggest and most influential cultural figures of the twentieth century. But the singer known as the 'Hardest Working Man in Show Business' was also an immensely troubled, misunderstood and complicated man. Award-winning writer James McBride, himself a professional musician, has undertaken a journey of discovery in search of the 'real' James Brown, delving into the heartbreaking saga of Brown's childhood and destroyed estate, and uncovering the hidden history of Brown's early years.

James McBride is the author of the National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller The Good Lord Bird, the bestselling novels Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St Anna, and the No. 1 New York Times bestseller The Color of Water, which has sold more than two million copies. He is also a saxophonist and composer who teaches music to children in the Red Hook Brooklyn housing projects, where he was born, and a professor of journalism at NYU.

Thoughtful and probing . . . when McBride digs in, especially when describing the music - that massive, unstoppable, titanic, world-shaking accomplishment - by virtue of his own training as a saxophonist, he does so with great warmth, insight and frequent wit . . . James McBride's welcome elucidation of these points is clear, deeply felt and unmistakable - NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW The definitive look at one of the greatest, most important entertainers, The Godfather, Da Number One Soul Brother, Mr Please, Please Himself The astonishing tangle of greatness and mayhem that was James Brown is embedded in this book. Honestly, it's not a musical biography. It's more than that. It conjures not just the man but the groove itself The author of the best-selling memoir THE COLOR OF WATER and the National Book Award-winning novel THE GOOD LORD BIRD turns out to also be the biographer of James Brown we've all been waiting for . . . McBride's true subject is race and poverty in a country that doesn't want to hear about it, unless compelled by a voice that demands to be heard - NEW YORK MAGAZINE