1
of
1
Kill 'Em and Leave
Searching for the Real James Brown
Series: Deep Cuts
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 2,907 ratings, 465 reviews)
Brief 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...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
Kill 'Em and Leave
$2999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
A personal journey in search of the soul legend James Brown by National Book Award-winning novelist James McBride
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
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.
Series: Deep Cuts
View all-
Kill 'Em and Leave
"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...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
On Some Faraway Beach
Foreword by Alan Warner 'A book that sets new standards for rock biography' Guardian Reissued as part of White Rabbit's Deep Cuts series, On Some Faraway Beach is the first and only ever comprehensive and authoritative biography of Brian Eno, featuring interviews with many of his key collaborators over the years: from Bryan Ferry to David Byrne and Robert Wyatt....Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Feel Like Going Home
Feel Like Going Home vividly brings to life such early blues masters as Muddy Waters, Skip James, and Howlin' Wolf, along with illuminating excursions into the blues-based rock 'n' roll of Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, and the Sun Records label. With unique insight and unparalleled access, celebrated author Peter Guralnick (Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley)...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
FOREWORD BY JAMES MURPHY 'Literally changed the course of my life' James Murphy When someone says, 'You have to know your history...' this is it. A pop culture classic for over two decades, now fully refreshed and updated as part of White Rabbit's Deep Cuts series, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is the whole unruly story of dance...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Pre-orderAltered State
'The definitive story' Q Magazine 'I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough' Irvine Welsh From its first publication in 1997, Altered State established itself as the definitive text on Ecstasy and dance culture. This new edition, reissued as part of White Rabbit's prestigious Deep Cuts series, sees Matthew Collin take a thrilling trip through the acid house Summer...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableOut 15 Sep 2026Pre-order -
Pre-orderWilliam S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll
'If you simply follow Burroughs through the rock 'n' roll years you'll see him achieve a flickering ubiquity - lurking here, eavesdropping there, photobombing the whole parade. It becomes a kind of alternative history' NEW YORK TIMES Reissued with a new Foreword as part of White Rabbit's prestigious Deep Cuts series, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n'...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableOut 15 Sep 2026Pre-order -
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll
William S. Burroughs's fiction and essays are legendary, but his influence on music's counterculture has been less well documentedโuntil now. Examining how one of America's most controversial literary figures altered the destinies of many notable and varied musicians, William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll reveals the transformations in music history that can be traced to Burroughs....PaperbackSold Out -
Hit So Hard
FOREWORD BY AUDREY GOLDEN, AUTHOR OF I THOUGHT I HEARD YOU SPEAK Hit So Hard is a memoir of renewal and hope; a window onto the '90s Seattle grunge scene, and a testament to the enduring power of the music Patty Schemel helped create as drummer in Hole with Courtney Love. With a brand new introduction by Audrey Golden to...PaperbackSold Out -
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
'Literally changed the course of my life' James Murphy 'The chapter on Larry Levan alone transformed me into wanting to be your favorite DJ' Questlove 'The original and still the best' Gilles Peterson 'We can't tell the story of dance music without speaking the names of Sharon White and Judy Weinstein, so I welcome this vital update' The Blessed Madonna...HardbackSold Out
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399627382
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 November 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: White Rabbit
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 196.0mm
Weight: 239g
Pages: 256
About the Author
James McBride is the author of the New York Times-bestselling Oprah's Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, the million-copy-bestselling memoir The Colour of Water, the novels Song Yet Sung and Miracle at St. Anna, the story collection Five-Carat Soul, and Kill 'Em and Leave, a biography of James Brown. The recipient of a National Humanities Medal and an accomplished musician, McBride is also a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.
Also by James McBride
View all-
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
"I loved this book" BONNIE GARMUS, author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY "A generous, compassionate book about the power of love and community" LOUISE KENNEDY, author of TRESPASSES "THIS is his best book" ANN PATCHETT, author of TOM LAKE "I can't recommend this one highly enough" HARLAN COBEN THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER BARACK OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK AMAZON.COM NO.1 BOOK...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Five-Carat Soul
'McBride at his brave and joyous best' New York Times Book Review 'A furious joy drives these glimpses of brave lives in perilous places' San Francisco Chronicle An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by a Civil War General now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Miracle at St. Anna
'I envy those about to discover Miracle at St. Anna for the first time' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'Searingly, soaringly beautiful' Baltimore Sun Towards the end of World War Two, four soldiers from the Army's Negro 92nd Division find themselves separated from their unit behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Song Yet Sung
'A complex, ever-tightening, increasingly suspenseful web' Washington Post 'Gripping' New York Times In the days before the Civil War, an enslaved woman named Liz Spocott escapes from her captors into the labyrinthine swamps of Maryland's eastern shore, setting loose a drama of violence and hope among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves and free blacks. Liz is near death,...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Good Lord Bird
'Wildly entertaining. A rollicking saga about one of America's earliest abolitionists' People 'Just so brilliant' John Green Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1856. When an argument between Henry's master and legendary abolitionist John Brown turns violent, Henry is forced to leave town - along with Brown, who believes Henry to be a girl...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Color of Water
As a boy in Brooklyn, James McBride knew his mother was different. But when he asked her about it, she'd simply say, 'I'm light-skinned.' Later, he wondered if he was different too and asked his mother if he was black or white. 'You're a human being,' she snapped. 'Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!' And when James asked what...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book โข A New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Winner of the 2024 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction From one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2024 Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR/Fresh Air, Washington Post,...Paperback$5100Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
"I loved this book" BONNIE GARMUS "A generous, compassionate book about the power of love and community" LOUISE KENNEDY "I can't recommend this one highly enough" HARLAN COBEN "THIS is his best book" ANN PATCHETT THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER BARACK OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK AMAZON.COM #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR BOOK OF THE YEAR IN: The Guardian, New Yorker,...PaperbackSold Out -
Deacon King Kong
Deacon King Kong is a New York Times bestseller about community, race, and religion from the National Book Award winner, James McBride. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS A FAVOURITE READ TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR, NEW YORK TIMES & WASHINGTON POST 'Brilliantly imagined, larger than life, a tragicomedic epic.' -...PaperbackSold Out
More from Biography & Memoir
View all-
New ReleaseDogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it. A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Stakes
Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the authorโs bestselling memoirย Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampireโs badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stokerโsย Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseFamesick
Chronicling the tumultuous decade between the premiere of Girls to her 2021 shotgunย wedding (minus the baby, because she has no uterus), Lena Dunham takes us through herย journey with her trademark mix of humor, unsparing honesty, and keen eye for detail. We peek behind the scenes - of her work, her family, her relationships, and her battle to reclaim her body...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseBuilt for This
Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Even the Good Girls Will Cry
Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseAn Ocean and a Day
An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love. An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell's personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief journey she travelled over the first two...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
A Place to Stand
A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clareโs thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...Hardback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips early August -
New Release
Rule of Lies
Written with all the pace and energy of a John Grisham novel โฆ An incredible true story and a great read! BILL BROWDER, author of Red Notice and Freezing Order An American lawyerโs brilliant, propulsive story of witnessing and playing a part in the transformation of Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. A true tale of fascinating personalities, criminal intrigue, harrowing...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseRory
Theย New York Timesย bestseller The #1ย Irish Timesย bestseller The definitive biography of Rory McIlroy, the most important, popular and confounding player of the post-Tiger era. Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. He can overwhelm a golf...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4199Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseTe Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera โ author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider โ decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wฤnanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Mฤori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThis Is Me: A Reckoning
This is a searingly honest and moving memoir from double Golden Globe-nominatedactress Hayden Panettiere. Hayden Panettiere has been in front of the camera since before she could talk. She roseto stardom typecasted as Hollywood's blonde girl next door. As a young celebrity,naysayers were certain she would crash and burn. Not one to disappoint, she did.Hayden Panettiere's irreverent memoir satisfies our...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseBeyond Life and Death
From martial arts icon and global film star Jet Li comes a revelatory, profound and inspiring guide to self-mastery and spiritual wisdom, distilled into 10 essential life lessons. Martial arts legend and international movie star Jet Li distils 10 powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his 30-year Buddhist practice. Jet Li's story defies legend....Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
