{"title":"melville house","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-future-of-songwriting-futures","title":"The Future of Songwriting (FUTURES)","description":"\u003cp\u003eBooks of the Year 2024 - Number 16. Discover the full list on our blog.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThrowing Muses\u003c\/strong\u003e frontwoman and critically acclaimed solo artist \u003cstrong\u003eKristin Hersh\u003c\/strong\u003e meditates on the future of her craft in this wry, existential, and passionate addition to Melville House UK’s new FUTURES series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver a long, hot Christmas in Australia, \u003cstrong\u003eKristin Hersh\u003c\/strong\u003e considers her future as a songwriter. Is it possible to create music and not show off about it? How can artists establish and refine a following without becoming part of the commercial problem? And just how many times is it healthy to watch \u003cem\u003eIt’s a Wonderful Life\u003c\/em\u003e in three weeks?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Future of Songwriting\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eHersh\u003c\/strong\u003e chooses to interrogate these questions through dialogue. From in-depth conversations with a comedian friend about the similarities between songs and jokes, via a fruitful visit to Sydney’s ‘bone museums’, to a revelation from a herbal healer in New Orleans, she delivers a fierce, funny, and existential meditation on the art of the song – and its future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50411230626123,"sku":"2050796","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback | Signed Copy","offer_id":50411231150411,"sku":"2054940","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9781911545613_2b3c1ad8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726654241"},{"product_id":"the-last-interview-3","title":"The Last Interview","description":"\u003cp\u003ebell hooks was a prolific, trailblazing author, feminist, social activist, cultural critic, and professor. Born Gloria Jean Watkins, bell used her pen name to centre attention on her ideas and to honour her courageous great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. hooks's unflinching dedication to her work forged deep grooves for the feminist and anti-racist movements. In this collection of interviews, from early in her career until her last interview before her death, she discusses feminism, the complexity of rap music and masculinity, her relationship to Buddhism, the 'politic of domination,' sexuality, and love and the importance of communication across cultural borders. Whether she was sparking controversy on campuses or facing criticism from contemporaries, hooks relentlessly challenged herself and those around her, inserted herself into the tensions of the cultural moment, and anchored herself with love.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50434107900235,"sku":"2028664","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/411kGTW5cSL._SX331_BO1204203200__aa799e05_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726885783"},{"product_id":"the-future-of-the-self","title":"The Future of the Self","description":"\u003cp\u003eLook in the mirror – what do you see? We all feel, instinctively, that self exists. That somewhere inside us, under the clothes, the make-up and self-tan, lurks a hard ‘pearl’, a kernel of truth called ‘me’. And it’s big business uncovering that ‘authentic’ kernel. It’s also a fool’s errand, because that ‘true self’? It doesn’t exist. Self is no more than a story we tell ourselves. It’s mutable, pliable as Plasticine. Worse, it’s not even strictly autobiographical, but co-authored with those around us. And as such, there is no one version, but myriad, and the number is growing as we are exposed to ever more connections. We are already seeing the effects travel, television, and celebrity culture can have on the formation of self, but as digital and social media exposure grows, and in the advent of AI, what will happen to our sense of self? Can we become ever more multiple and adapt better to our globalised world? Or will we dissolve into narcissitic, detached ‘nobodies’? The Future of the Self will explore our current understanding of self in both philosophical and neuroscientific terms and through the lens of popular culture. It will ask what might happen to it in the coming years, and what a ‘useful self’ might look like in the future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50437502959947,"sku":"2194769","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9781911545699_0848c5e6_thumbnail_4096.webp?v=1726931653"},{"product_id":"the-utopia-of-rules-on-technology-stupidity-and-the-secret-joys-of-bureaucracy","title":"The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhere does the desire for endless rules and regulations come from? How did we come to spend so much time filling out forms? And just how much are our lives being ruined by all this nonstop documentation? To answer these questions, the LSE anthropologist David Graeber, author of the international bestseller DEBT and one of our most important and provocative thinkers, traces the unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice. Is the inane, annoying paperwork we confront daily really a cipher for state violence? Is the capitalist promise of salvation through technology just a tool for the powerful to exert more control? Graeber provides a forceful, radical answer to these questions, while also suggesting there may be something perversely appealing, even romantic, about bureaucracy. Leaping from economic theory to the hidden meanings behind James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture. An essential book for our times that is destined to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule our lives, and the better, freer world we should, perhaps, begin to imagine for ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50452170408267,"sku":"398937","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f8fb1af8-d0d1-4e66-b6d0-988f68b01dc0_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727142470"},{"product_id":"shit-is-fucked-up-and-bullshit-history-since-the-end-of-history","title":"Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit: History Since the End of History","description":"\u003cp\u003e From the writer hailed for giving voice to a generation in \u003ci\u003eKids These Days\u003c\/i\u003e comes a bold rejection of a society in which inequality, student debt, and exploitation have come to define our lives\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur economic situation, political discourse, and future prospects have gotten much worse since a guy brought a sign that said \"Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit\" to the Occupy Wall Street protests. We all knew what he meant then . . . but where are we now? And how has so much happened since the so-called end of history?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMalcolm Harris, one of our sharpest and most versatile critics, tackles these questions in over 30 new and selected pieces, examining everything from the lowering of wages to the rise of fascism--and the maddening cultural landscape in between. Along the way, he cops to being the guy who tricked protestors into thinking Radiohead was playing Occupy Wall Street; investigates why the robots that will replace us so often look like sex objects; and, most comfortingly, assures us that Marx saw the necessity of a crisis moment just like the one we're in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRarely does a writer come along who can turn our world so thoroughly upside-down that we can finally understand it for what it really is, but Harris's wry and biting essays do just that, and help us laugh at what we see.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50452401226059,"sku":"1083737","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f176a519-6161-4821-88a8-a7c2cd12109a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727151325"},{"product_id":"the-last-interview","title":"The Last Interview","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe brilliant intellect and candor of Anthony Bourdain is on full display in the collection of from throughout his remarkable career, including interviews with Neil Degrasse Tyson and Trevor Noah.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnthony Bourdain traveled an extraordinary road, evolving from celebrity chef to intrepid travel writer to journalist, and ultimately, a most unlikely social anthropologist. His storytelling through culinary adventure was frank, often uncompromising, and filled with heart and appreciation for the global cultures and customs he investigated. This volume of interviews includes an Introduction from Helen Rosner, food correspondent for The New Yorker.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50453567275339,"sku":"1142348","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/8ea34194-f6ee-4e92-8226-18374897780a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727173777"},{"product_id":"go-ahead-in-the-rain","title":"Go Ahead In The Rain","description":"\u003cp\u003eHow does one pay homage to A Tribe Called Quest? The seminal rap group brought jazz into the genre to create masterpieces such as The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. Seventeen years after their last album, they resurrected themselves with an intense, socially conscious record, We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service, which arrived when fans needed it most, in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Hanif Abdurraqib digs into the group's history and draws from his own experience to reflect on how its distinctive sound resonated among fans like himself. Abdurraqib traces the Tribe's creative career, from their early days as part of the Afrocentric rap collective known as the Native Tongues, through their first three classic albums, to their eventual breakup and long hiatus. Their work is placed in the context of the broader rap landscape of the 1990s, one upended by sampling laws, the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that threatened to destroy the genre, and some record labels' shift from focusing on groups to individual MCs. Throughout the narrative Abdurraqib connects the music and cultural history to their street-level impact, seeking deeper truths that are not simply heard in the head, but felt in the chest.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50466887991627,"sku":"1142345","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/508ed10c-21f5-40fc-866e-bfe278bb0a4c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727328657"},{"product_id":"kurt-cobain-the-last-interview-and-other-conversations-the-last-interview-series","title":"Kurt Cobain: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKurt Cobain\u003c\/strong\u003e burst into American consciousness with a vengeance with the release of \u003cem\u003eNevermind\u003c\/em\u003e, an instant classic that defined a sound and a generation. As the lead singer and guitarist of \u003cstrong\u003eNirvana\u003c\/strong\u003e, he changed American music as few musicians ever have.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHis instantly identifiable raspy croon, his slash-and-burn guitar playing, and his corrosive and poetic lyrics made him a hero to a generation of lost souls. Three years later, he was dead of suicide, leaving a meteoric career and a cultural influence that would never wane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn interviews \u003cstrong\u003eCobain\u003c\/strong\u003e was funny, thoughtful, sarcastic, impassioned, and even kind. This collection of interviews provides a look at a man who was too often misunderstood.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50466898903371,"sku":"2001810","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/81e4wgYmrbL_1d95c225_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727329466"},{"product_id":"witches-the-transformative-power-of-women-working-together","title":"Witches: The Transformative Power of Women Working Together","description":"\u003cp\u003eA celebration of the power and pleasure of working with other women, and a powerful attack of myths like that of the 'cool girl' or the 'catty workplace'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCovens. Girl bands. Ballet troupes. Convents. In all times and places, girls and women have come together in communities of vocation, of necessity, of support. And wherever women gather, magic happens. Female farmers change the way we grow our food. Online beauty communities democratise the intricacies of skincare. Teen girls invent phrases that enter the urban lexicon, and choose our next pop superstars. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePatriarchal societies have long been content to uphold men's and boys' clubs, while viewing groups that exclude men as sites of rivalry and suspicion. In this deeply personal exploration of what women make together, Sam George-Allen delves into workplaces, industries and social groups to dismantle the cultural myth of female isolation and uncover the inherent revolutionary potential of these groups. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThoughtful, intimate, and convincing, Witches is a long-overdue celebration of the power and pleasure of working with other women.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50466933113163,"sku":"1083731","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/308ac406-97a7-453f-8e1a-f06d0f26cf8f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727331851"},{"product_id":"james-baldwin-the-last-interview","title":"James Baldwin: The Last Interview","description":"\u003cp\u003eNever before available, the unexpurgated last interview with James Baldwin\"I was not born to be what someone said I was. I was not born to be defined by someone else, but by myself, and myself only.\" When, in the fall of 1987, the poet Quincy Troupe traveled to the south of France to interview James Baldwin, Baldwin's brother David told him to ask Baldwin about everything—Baldwin was critically ill and David knew that this might be the writer's last chance to speak at length about his life and work.The result is one of the most eloquent and revelatory interviews of Baldwin's career, a conversation that ranges widely over such topics as his childhood in Harlem, his close friendship with Miles Davis, his relationship with writers like Toni Morrison and Richard Wright, his years in France, and his ever-incisive thoughts on the history of race relations and the African-American experience.Also collected here are significant interviews from other moments in Baldwin's life, including an in-depth interview conducted by Studs Terkel shortly after the publication of Nobody Knows My Name. These interviews showcase, above all, Baldwin's fearlessness and integrity as a writer, thinker, and individual, as well as the profound struggles he faced along the way.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50481605345611,"sku":"390874","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/62ae159d-0e9a-4408-90ef-69eb2e2a78b9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727541895"},{"product_id":"sinead-oconnor-the-last-interview-and-other-conversations","title":"Sinéad O'Connor: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations","description":"\u003cp\u003eA significant collection of interviews with the defiant, controversial, and ground-breaking singer, songwriter, and activist throughout her turbulent career.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s not like I got up in the morning and said, ‘Okay, now let’s start a new controversy’. -- \u003cstrong\u003eSinéad O’Connor\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSinéad O'Connor’s\u003c\/strong\u003e music — both in her songwriting and in her beautiful voice — addressed both emotional despair and incandescent joy with glorious ardor. But she may have been just as well known for her outspokenness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis collection of interviews covers the entire span of \u003cstrong\u003eO'Connor's\u003c\/strong\u003e career, from the early days to her last interview. From giddy teenager to seasoned superstar, she speaks candidly about her meteoric rise to fame, and recounts what happened when she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television in an act of protest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnguarded and unpredictable, \u003cstrong\u003eO'Connor\u003c\/strong\u003e was a woman who electrified the globe: imaginative, opinionated, and eloquent. With an introduction by \u003cem\u003eKristin Hersh\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50504603402571,"sku":"2218463","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/41Y65hAWN5L._SY445_SX342__cb47693f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727807279"},{"product_id":"prince-the-last-interview-and-other-conversations","title":"Prince: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere is perhaps no musician who has had as much influence on the sound of contemporary American music than Prince. His pioneering compositions brought a variety of musical genres into a singular funky and virtuosic sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this remarkable collection, and with his signature mix of seduction and demur, the late visionary reflects on his artistry, identity, and the sacrifices and soul-searching it took to stay true to himself.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50530497954123,"sku":"2182275","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/71iXmBJbBKL._SY522__caa09c30_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728079953"},{"product_id":"david-bowie-the-last-interview-and-other-conversations","title":"David Bowie: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe latest addition to \u003cem\u003eThe Last Interview\u003c\/em\u003e series concentrates on the late great \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Bowie\u003c\/strong\u003e. Bowie was famous for his fascinating refusal to stay the same - the same as other trending artists, or even the same as himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this remarkable collection, he reveals the fierce intellectualism, artistry, and humor behind it all, in candid discussion about his sexuality, his drug usage, his sense of fashion, how he composed, and more. It is a must-own for all Bowie fans.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"melville house","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50530601795915,"sku":"2182269","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/41Xdac1r3qL._SY445_SX342__26d51b8b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728081505"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/melville-house-1.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}