This immersive epic reveals the origins of the American empire and the lives of those who promoted it and those who resisted it.In 1898, the United States gained an empire, and—many allege—lost its soul. In just a few dramatic weeks, American forces wrested Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spanish rule, but their “splendid little war” had a long and difficult aftermath, with the “liberators” facing resistance and resentment and their country tempted by i...

"It's wonderful to read a book that ranges across music, cinema, music video art, and literature with such ease… One of the beautiful things about this book is that it is really attentive to relationships, and this is particularly clear when talking about Kahlil Joseph's creative mentors and comrades, including Arthur Jafa and Terrence Malick." -Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Helen S. Bevington Associate Professor of Modern Poetry; Associate Professor of African & African American Studies, ...

I lay in bed many nights over the years, asking God, "Why was my life spared so many times? What is my real purpose in life? Why did two angels save me?" I remember going to church and hearing people say God spoke to them. I didn't really know how God would speak to me, but I learned over the years. When something positive stays on my mind constantly and won't go away, I know God is trying to speak to me. I have a strong belief in God.This book is about my encounter with two angels...

In 1987, when Richard Harris – the legendary star of This Sporting Life, The Field and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – was interviewed for the first time by Joe Jackson, they almost came to blows. Jackson was determined to unearth deeper truths about the actor than he usually disclosed during interviews. Harris had manipulated the media all his life, largely to keep people from getting to really know him. However, by the time that interview ended, they...

From his earliest memories, Joe Jackson dreamed of playing in the National Football League and being somebody great-a champion. But growing up in a family of seven in a Cincinnati suburb during the turbulent times of the 1960s didn't look promising. It took hard work, discipline, and good coaching to become a champion in the world's eyes in the NFL. But the most significant change didn't take place on a football field, but in his heart when he gave his life to Jesus Christ. Only then did h...

The late 1970s brought us an eclectic mix of popular music--everything from big hits (and even bigger hair) to cult favorites, along with the dawn of disco and punk, the coming of corporate rock, the rise of reggae and new wave, and some of the most progressive, inventive songwriting of the century.Whether you cranked up your radio for Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Supertramp, the Bee Gees, Talking Heads, Rickie Lee Jones, or Earth, Wind and Fire, you'll relive those heady days ...

Scott Walker not only told Joe Jackson during the triple set of in-depth interviews they did in 1995 - one for radio, one for a rock magazine and the other for The Irish Times newspaper - that he remembered and really liked to review Jackson did of walkers album Climate of Hunter in 1984. He said it helped him redefine for himself how his music could best be described at that point. Then, in 2003, Jackson was informed that Scott Walker wanted to use as the booklet notes in the forthcoming ...

In 1996 Joe Jackson, a journalist from The Irish Times, sat down with Eamon Dunphy, at his request , and interviewed the Irish ex-footballer, sports commentator, and author of books such as The Unforgettable Fire: The Story of U2, for 11 hours over a two-day period. It was one of the longest interviews Jackson ever conducted and is still regarded by Dunphy as "definitive." At the time it created a media furore in Ireland, particularly in terms of dump his attacks on Irish broadcasting lege...

When Joe Jackson was nine years old, he read The Elvis Presley Story paperback. He told his mother, "one day I'm going to Memphis, to thank Mr Phillips for discovering Elvis." On his 10th birthday, Jackson was, he says, "practically reborn" when he discovered "real rock 'n' roll" thanks to a three-year-old Elvis hit called, I Need Your Love Tonight. Two years later, in 1964, he heard for the first time "classic early Elvis uncut such as Good Rockin Tonight" and thus began his lifetime pass...

Joe Jackson is a life-long Scott Walker fan who, after interviewing Leonard Cohen in 1985, became an interviewer "purely to talk with more of my heroes," he says. First on his list was Scott Walker, when they finally did the interview a decade later, Walker thanked Jackson for a review he did of the Climate of Hunter album in 1984 and said it helped him redefine for himself how his music could best be described at that point. They did two in-depth interviews, unlike any ever given by Scott...

"Part memoir, part discourse on the art of music. . . . This is an intelligent, thoughtful look into the mind of an artist."-- New York Times Book ReviewSince the release of his first best-selling album Look Sharp in 1979, Joe Jackson has forged a singular career in music through his originality as a composer and his notoriously independent stance toward music-business fashion. He has also been a famously private person, whose lack of interest in h...

Winner of the Society of American Historians' Francis Parkman PrizeWinner of the PEN / Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for BiographyBest Biography of 2016, True West magazineWinner of the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award, Best Western BiographyFinalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for BiographyLong-listed for the Cundill H...