Kill 'Em and Leave

Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

Biography & Memoir, Composers & Musicians, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture
Cover of the book Kill 'Em and Leave by James McBride, Random House Publishing Group
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Author: James McBride ISBN: 9780679645627
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Publication: April 5, 2016
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau Language: English
Author: James McBride
ISBN: 9780679645627
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication: April 5, 2016
Imprint: Spiegel & Grau
Language: English

“You won’t leave this hypnotic book without feeling that James Brown is still out there, howling.”—The Boston Globe
 
ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST
 
Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown embodied the contradictions of American life: He was an unsettling symbol of the tensions between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. After receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth, James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history, illuminating not only our understanding of the immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated Godfather of Soul, but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s enduring legacy. 

Praise for Kill ’Em and Leave

“A tour de force of cultural reportage.”The Seattle Times
 
“Thoughtful and probing.”The New York Times Book Review
 
“Masterly . . . powerful.”Los Angeles Review of Books
* *
“McBride provides something lacking in most of the books about James Brown: an intimate feeling for the musician, a veracious if inchoate sense of what it was like to be touched by him. . . . It may be as close [to ‘the real James Brown’] as we’ll ever get.”—David Hajdu, The Nation
 
“A feat of intrepid journalistic fortitude.”USA Today
 
“[McBride is] 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.”—Boris Kachka, New York
 
“Illuminating . . . engaging.”The Washington Post
 
“A gorgeously written piece of reportage that gives us glimpses of Brown’s genius and contradictions.”***—O: The Oprah Magazine***

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“You won’t leave this hypnotic book without feeling that James Brown is still out there, howling.”—The Boston Globe
 
ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST
 
Kill ’Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Brown embodied the contradictions of American life: He was an unsettling symbol of the tensions between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. After receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth, James McBride goes in search of the “real” James Brown. McBride’s travels take him to forgotten corners of Brown’s never-before-revealed history, illuminating not only our understanding of the immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated Godfather of Soul, but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Brown’s enduring legacy. 

Praise for Kill ’Em and Leave

“A tour de force of cultural reportage.”The Seattle Times
 
“Thoughtful and probing.”The New York Times Book Review
 
“Masterly . . . powerful.”Los Angeles Review of Books
* *
“McBride provides something lacking in most of the books about James Brown: an intimate feeling for the musician, a veracious if inchoate sense of what it was like to be touched by him. . . . It may be as close [to ‘the real James Brown’] as we’ll ever get.”—David Hajdu, The Nation
 
“A feat of intrepid journalistic fortitude.”USA Today
 
“[McBride is] 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.”—Boris Kachka, New York
 
“Illuminating . . . engaging.”The Washington Post
 
“A gorgeously written piece of reportage that gives us glimpses of Brown’s genius and contradictions.”***—O: The Oprah Magazine***

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