This is a long-awaited and authoritative reinterpretation of the early life and career of arguably the greatest artist in history. Author John T. Spike surveys Michelangelo's early life from birth to his early thirties, probing the thinking, artistic evolution and yearnings of a young man thoroughly convinced of his own exceptional talent. Spike explores Michelangelo's involvement in the most troubling controversies of his age, and recreates Florence and Rome with vivid sketches of Lorenzo...

The novel The Spiked Republic, a political thriller following veteran investigative journalist Sam Whitaker as he uncovers a conspiracy to subvert a presidential election. After witnessing a suspicious assassination attempt on candidate Garrett Caldwell, Whitaker discovers a secret network of Secret Service agents receiving clandestine payments from a Latvian-linked shell company. The plot centers on a cov...

A monastic outpost in the Celtic Sea, a fortress built to defend an Empire, a prison established to intern a nation; Spike Island’s remarkable 1300-year history far exceeds its modest acreage. No other place better encapsulates the Irish story. Spike Island tells of religious fervour, frequent rebellion, social endeavour, and a nation’s unextinguishable yearning for freedom. After 206 years off-limits to the public, its secrets can finally be divulged. The island has garnered international...

The Tiger Wore Spikes, first published in 1956, is an insightful, down-to-earth look at the career of baseball great Tyrus "Ty" Cobb (1886-1961), who spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (the last 6 years as the team's playermanager), followed by several seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics. Written by sports writer John McCallum, the book is based on the author's interviews with Cobb as he reflected back on his long and sometimes controversial career. Included are ...

"A fast-moving account of the era bookended by Stranger Than Paradise and Pulp Fiction . . . [a] Baedeker of off-Hollywood where all roads lead to Park City." — InterviewThe legendary figure who launched the careers of Spike Lee, Michael Moore, and Richard Linklater offers a no-holds-barred look at the deals and details that propel an indie film from a dream to distribution. At the epicenter of the industry in the 1980s and '90s, John Pie...

The filmmakers who defy convention and validate the legitimacy of the auteur theory are revealed in probing, wide-ranging and provocative interviews that first appeared in Playboy magazine. From foreign masters of direction and style Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini to champions of independent film Spike Lee and The Coen Brothers to the godfathers of the gangster movie Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, the visionaries to constantly push the boundaries of their medium and portray hu...

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES, GRAMMY-NOMINATED BESTSELLERA SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, ROLLING STONE, AND ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEARA panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself-by band members AD-ROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze, Wes A...

Never have so many famous drummers been gathered together in one place! Drummer and writer Spike Webb has spent more than three years meeting fellow drummers in bars, clubs and cafes, shooting the breeze for a couple of hours and extracting anecdote after anecdote for posterity. This is truly a labour of love - and somebody had to do it. In this book you'll meet drummers like Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Don Powell (Slade), Adam Facek (Babyshambles), Steve White (Paul Weller), Topper Headon (T...

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to World War II.Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely,...

The Adventures of Spike the Cat is an unusual story of a cat who speaks to his owner and has wondrous adventures, such as flying an airplane and appearing as the star of a concert. He is faster than the police at solving a crime. He will win your heart with his yeow meow!