Christopher John Farley Books In Order

My Favourite War

Irish born Anne Bonny is only a teenager when she is left destitute by her mother’s death. Abandoned by her father, she seems destined to be forgotten by the world. But Anne chooses to seek her fortune in the lush tropics of the colonial West Indies, where she pas*ses herself off as a young man named Bonn. She finds work as a ship s hand, sailing under the command of Calico Jack Rackam, a notorious and charismatic pirate with a bounty on his head. Calico Jack has his heart set on raiding the Madrid Galleon, the richest ship in the Caribbean, which sails from Kingston laden with Cuban gold and Jamaican rum.

Bonn is entranced by the sea and by the ship s violent crew, which includes a mysterious swordfighter named Read, who, it turns out, has a secret life of his own. Calico Jack soon discovers Bonn s and Read s true identities, but it is only when the three pirates are captured that their darkest secrets begin to surface. In the shadow of the gallows, a strange twist of fate reveals a shocking betrayal that may save Bonn from death, while permanently changing everything she has known about her past and the world around her.

Gorgeously written and full of mystery, intrigue, and startling revelations about gender, race, history, and the human heart, Kingston by Starlight is a once in a lifetime read.

Kingston By Starlight

Irish born Anne Bonny is only a teenager when she is left destitute by her mother’s death. Abandoned by her father, she seems destined to be forgotten by the world. But Anne chooses to seek her fortune in the lush tropics of the colonial West Indies, where she pas*ses herself off as a young man named Bonn. She finds work as a ship s hand, sailing under the command of Calico Jack Rackam, a notorious and charismatic pirate with a bounty on his head. Calico Jack has his heart set on raiding the Madrid Galleon, the richest ship in the Caribbean, which sails from Kingston laden with Cuban gold and Jamaican rum.

Bonn is entranced by the sea and by the ship s violent crew, which includes a mysterious swordfighter named Read, who, it turns out, has a secret life of his own. Calico Jack soon discovers Bonn s and Read s true identities, but it is only when the three pirates are captured that their darkest secrets begin to surface. In the shadow of the gallows, a strange twist of fate reveals a shocking betrayal that may save Bonn from death, while permanently changing everything she has known about her past and the world around her.

Gorgeously written and full of mystery, intrigue, and startling revelations about gender, race, history, and the human heart, Kingston By Starlight is a once in a lifetime read.

Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was that music business rarity: a teen idol who transformed herself into a critically acclaimed hip hop soul artist, a singer who successfully made the transition to actress, and a beautiful woman who never let the trappings of celebrity go to her head. Following her impressive debut at age 14 with the album Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number, Aaliyah raised the bar with her hugely influential and bestselling follow up, One in a Million. She then took her talents to Hollywood, starring in the action thriller Romeo Must Die and the highly anticipated horror film The Queen of the Damned. But soon after the release of her third album in the summer of 2001, Aaliyah‘s life was cut short in a tragic plane crash. Here is the inspirational story of the star The Washington Post dubbed ‘Hip Hop’s Lady Di’ a woman who, by the time of her death at age twenty two, touched legions of fans around the world with her haunting voice and gentle spirit.

Introducing Halle Berry

Christopher John Farley first interviewed Halle Berry in 1991, at the beginning of her career. Now the Time Magazine Senior Editor provides the first in depth look at Berry, the actress, the woman, and the history maker. Abandoned by her father at a young age, a childhood in Cleveland, Ohio marred by racism and an abusive relationship. The odds against Halle Berry were extraordinary. But no one could have dreamed how far her determination would take her. From a breakthrough role in Spike Lee’s JUNGLE FEVER to her Emmy Award winning performance in HBO’s INTRODUCING DOROTHY DANDRIDGE, Berry exhibited a tenacity that would eventually lead to MONSTER’S BALL and her best Actress Oscar, the first African American actress to receive the honour. Christopher John Farley provides a biography that is something more: with the sure sense of cultural analysis he displays in his weekly columns and reviews in Time magazine, Introducing Halle Berry is an absorbing and inspiring biography.

Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues

Rock & roll, jazz, R&B, hip hop: Without question, today’s most popular sounds owe an incalculable debt to that uniquely American musical creation The Blues. But the powerful influence of the blues, with its dramatic, artful storytelling about the elemental experience of being alive, is found in the works of some of our most important literary voices as well. This volume a companion to the groundbreaking seven part documentary series Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues represents a literary sampler every bit as vibrant and original and diverse as the films and music that inspired it. Included in this stunning collection are newly commissioned essays by David Halberstam, Hilton Als, Suzan Lori Parks, Elmore Leonard, Luc Sante, John Edgar Wideman, and others; timeless archival pieces by the likes of Stanley Booth, Paul Oliver, and Mack McCormick; evocative color illustrations and rare vintage photography; illuminating and in depth conversations and portraits of musicians, ranging from Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith to John Lee Hooker and Eric Clapton; lyrics of legendary blues compositions; personal essays by the series directors Martin Scorsese, Charles Burnett, Richard Pearce, Wim Wenders, Marc Levin, Mike Figgis, and Clint Eastwood; and excerpts from such literary masters as James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, Eudora Welty and Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes and William Faulkner. The result is a unique and timeless celebration of the blues, from writers and artists as esteemed and revered as the music that moved them. In these pages one not only reads about the blues, one hears them, feels them, lives them. Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues is more than a timeless collection of great writing to be savored and shared: it is an unforgettable initiation into the very essence of American music and culture.

Before the Legend

Bob Marley was a reggae superstar, a musical prophet who brought the sound of the Third World to the entire globe. Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley goes beyond the myth of Marley to bring you the private side of a man few people ever really knew. Drawing from original interviews with the people closest to Marleyincluding his widow, Rita, his mother, Cedella, his bandmate and childhood friend, Bunny Wailer, his producer Chris Blackwell, and many others Legend paints an entirely fresh picture of one of the most enduring musical artists of our times. This is a portrait of an artist as a young man, from his birth in the tiny town of Nine Miles in the hills of Jamaica, to the making of his debut international record, ‘Catch a Fire.’ We see Marley on the tough streets of Trench Town before he found stardom, struggling to find his way in music, in love and in life, and we take the wild ride with him to worldwide acceptance and adoration. From the acclaimed journalist, Christopher John Farely, the author of the bestselling AALIYAH and the reporter who broke the story on Dave Chappelle’s retreat to South Africa, Legend is bursting with fresh insights into Marley and Jamaica, and is the definitive story of Marley’s early days.