Author:Nik Cohn
What lunacy would cause a 55-year-old white male to embroil himself in the world of New Orleans rap - as ideas man, talent-spotter, lyricist, and would-be producer? Nik Cohn has loved (and hated) hip-hop since its birth and loved (and hated) New Orleans for even longer - an addiction he's never wanted to kick. But nothing prepared him for the experience of being pitched, more or less by accident, into the role of Triksta, rap impresario.
A white alien in a black world, with no funding or qualifications, and not a clue what he was doing, he had to rethink himself from scratch. Surrounded by a cast that included such names as Choppa and Soulja Slim, Big Ramp and Lil T, Bass Heavy, Fifth Ward Weebie, and Shorty Brown Hustle, he entered a world of tiny backstreet studios, broken-down slums and gun turfs.
Triksta is the story of a three-year odyssey to the heart of rap, and New Orleans, and self-knowledge.
Extraordinary...Triksta is [Cohn's] most vivid book in decades and a gripping read
—— Sunday TimesA poignant snapshot of a vibrant world just before it was lost... One of the most impressive music books of recent years
—— Irish TimesScintillating... Brilliant... Cohn was the first writer authentically to capture the raucous vitality of pop music. His writing here still sizzles and crackles
—— Sunday TelegraphCohn takes the reader on a journey as illuminating and unnerving as I have read in a long time... Even if you have no interest in rap music, or popular culture, it is a book that is worth reading... It is also Nik Cohn's best book yet
—— ObserverSaddening, exhilarating, pungent and poignant
—— Charles Shaar Murray , IndependentHis best book since the great Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom.... Cohn is an iconoclastic writer... Triksta shines
—— The TimesHis [Cohn's] book, street-sharp and witty and a stark expose of urban decay in a waning city, is made more poignant by the post-Katrina afterword included in this edition
—— Sunday TimesHis descriptions of the parts of the city devastated by poverty, neglect and crime way before Hurricane Katrina is hard-hitting but impossible to turn from, and his prose is as taut, hip and self aware as it's ever been. His portrait of a generation without hope crippled by rage with hip hop the only escape... is both grimly funny and heartbreaking
—— Independent on Sunday'One of the finest and most significant post-war journalists and probably the first person to write seriously about pop music...The writing is clear and dramatic; it grips from the first sentence and never lets go'
—— Hanif Kureishi , Observer Books of the YearA truly exceptional achievement … Important, awesome, compelling … extraordinary on many levels and certain to endure
—— Washington PostOne of the most exciting, un-put-downable books I have ever read. This is definitive biography, urban history, and investigative journalism. This is a study of the corruption which power exerts on those who wield it to set beside Tacitus and his emperors, Shakespeare and his kings
—— Baltimore Evening SunSurely the greatest book ever written about a city
—— David HalberstamIrresistible reading. It is like one of the great Russian novels, overflowing with characters and incidents that all fit into a vast mosaic of plot and counterplot. Only this is no novel. This is a college education in power corruption
—— St. Louis Post-DispatchThe most absorbing, detailed, instructive, provocative book ever published about the making and raping of modern New York City and environs and the man who did it, about the hidden plumbing of New York City and State politics over the last half-century, about the force of personality and the nature of political power in a democracy. A monumental work, a political biography and political history of the first magnitude
—— New YorkA triumph, brilliant and totally fascinating. A majestic, even Shakespearean, drama about the interplay of power and personality
—— Justin KaplanCaro has written one of the finest, best-researched and most analytically informative descriptions of our political and governmental processes to appear in a generation
—— Washington PostCaro’s achievement is staggering … A milestone in literary and publishing history
—— Houston PostAn extraordinary study of the workings of power, individually, institutionally, politically, and economically
—— Wall Street JournalA masterpiece of American reporting. It’s more than the story of a tragic figure or the exploration of the unknown politics of our time. It’s an elegantly written and enthralling work of art
—— Theodore H. WhiteIn the future, the scholar who writes the history of American cities in the twentieth century will doubtless begin with this extraordinary effort
—— The New York Times Book ReviewThis superb life of city planner Robert Moses is also an epic study of power that helped shape Obama’s politics
—— Sunday TimesEven if you’ve never heard of Moses, the freshness of Caro’s prose makes this an exhilarating study in power
—— Sunday TimesThere has never been a better book about the art of politics, nor a more riveting study of what power does to an individual
—— Dominic Sandbrook , BBC History MagazineIts ambition, which is vast, matches the scale of vision of its subject… Aside from being a considerable work of biography, The Power Broker is a near-peerless work of narrative nonfiction. Caro’s style is born of his obsessive attention to detail: he specialises in the rapid-fire accumulation of crushing facts, and the well-placed one-sentence paragraph that knocks you out like a sucker-punch… There are many moments of greatness in this brilliant book.
—— Karl Whitney , Irish TimesRobert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson is said to be on William Hague, George Osborne and Jeremy Hunt’s summer reading list
—— GuardianThis book shows the mastery of Johnson in politics, and also the mastery of Caro in biography
—— David M. Shribman , Bloomberg/BusinessWeekA great and occasionally astonishing biography
—— John R MacArthur , SpectatorOne of the greatest biographies in the history of American letters
—— Bob Hoover , Cleveland Plain DealerThe latest in what is almost without question the greatest political biography in modern times… Nobody goes deeper, works harder or produces more penetrating insights than [Caro]
—— Patrick Beach , Austin American-StatesmanA major event in biography, history, even publishing itself… Caro has once more combined prodigious research and a literary gift to mount a stage for his Shakespearean figures: LBJ, JFK, LBJ’s nemesis Robert F. Kennedy
—— Library Journal (Starred)A masterly how-to manual, showing Johnson’s knowledge of governing, his peerless congressional maneuvering and effective deal-making. The Years of Lyndon Johnson is a compact library: brilliant biography, gripping history, searing political drama and an incomparable study of power. It’s also a great read… And, after thousands of pages spent with Lyndon Johnson, one of Caro’s singular achievements is that you want more
—— Peter Gianotti , NewsdayBrilliant… Riveting reading from beginning to end… The real tour de force in this stunning mix of political and psychological analysis comes in the account of the transition between administrations, from November 23 1963 to January 8, 1964… An utterly fascinating character study, brimming with delicious insider stories… Political wonks, of course, will dive into this book with unbridled passion, but its focus on a larger-than-life, flawed but fascinating individual – the kind of character who drives epic fiction – should extend its reach much, much further. Unquestionably, one of the truly big books of the year
—— Booklist (Starred)The series’ crowning volume
—— The EconomistThis pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama, the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the humiliation (almost constant, by JF Kennedy) the sudden change of fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson drives through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself the most astute of politicians). Totally compelling
—— Biography of the year , Sunday Times IrelandIt is an extraordinary story of a deeply flawed character, told with such verve, such command of the facts, and such an understanding of power
—— Craig Brown , Mail on SundayA major work of history and biography
—— Annie Proulx , GuardianThe fourth installation of Caro’s masterwork came out this year and, cheeringly, there is no slackening of plot or pace
—— Kathryn Hughes , GuardianIt is a profound portrait of two men, Johnson and John F. Kennedy, and the relationship between them
—— Sarah Stands , Evening StandardA fascinating story, Shakespearean in its passion and fury, as well as darkly comical
—— Craig Brown , Mail on SundayThis pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama, the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the humiliation (almost constant, by J. F. Kennedy) the sudden change of fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson drives through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself the most astute of politicians). Totally compelling
—— Sunday Times IrelandThe fourth volume of Caro’s magisterial work spans the five years that end shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, as Johnson prepares to push for a civil rights
—— New York TimesA meticulous dissection of political and economic structures in the US… a riveting read by one of the modern masters of historical writing
—— Morning Star