John Higgs Livres

John Higgs is back with another surprising, eclectic book, this time looking to the future to make sense of who we are and where we're going

The strange tale of the death, life and legacy of the hugely successful band - updated with new material for the 10th anniversary of publication

They were the bestselling singles band in the world. They had awards, credibility, commercial success and creative freedom. Then they deleted their records, erased themselves from musical history and burnt their last million pounds in a boathouse on the Isle of Jura - and they couldn't say why. Wildly unauthorised, 'The KLF' is a trawl through chaos on the trail of a beautiful, accidental mythology and a journey through punk, rave, the alchemical symbolism of Doctor Who and the special power of the number 23.

The book explores the dramatic shift in human understanding and perception of reality that occurred in the twentieth century. Higgs contrasts the clarity of pre-1900 innovations with the complexities introduced by modern concepts such as relativity, quantum mechanics, and existentialism. He delves into how these developments have reshaped our worldview, influencing everything from art to politics and our understanding of existence itself.

'An illuminating work of massive insight' Alan Moore 'A sensational book. Heartily recommended' Rufus Hound It is the century about which we know too much, yet understand too little. With disorientating ideas such as relativity, cubism, the id, existentialism, chaos mathematics and postmodernism to contend with, the twentieth century, John Higgs argues, cannot fit easily into a traditional historical narrative. Time, then, for a new perspective. Higgs takes us on a refreshingly eclectic journey through the knotty history of the strangest of centuries. In the company of radical artists, scientists, geniuses and eccentrics, he shows us how the elegant, clockwork universe of the Victorians became increasingly woozy and uncertain; and how in the twentieth century we discovered that our world is not just stranger than we imagine, but 'stranger than we can imagine'.

A short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first century

A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius William Blake in the twenty-first century

The brilliant first biography of the man President Nixon called 'the most dangerous man in America'. číst celé

A journey along one of Britain's oldest roads, from Dover to Anglesey, in search of the hidden history that makes us who we are today.

A singular work of narrative non-fiction that explores the unexpected connections between two titans of the British cultural psyche - the Beatles and the Bond films - and what they can tell us about class, male identity and our aspirations over sixty dramatic years