New Releases by Nick Tosches

A forgotten singer from the early days of jazz is at the center of this riveting book -- a narrative that is part mystery, part biography, part meditation on the meaning and power of music.

Dans un recoin des archives secrètes de la bibliothèque vaticane, Nick Tosches découvre un codex vieux de deux mille ans qui relate les mémoires d''un aristocrate romain : Gaius Fulvius Falconius. Orateur de talent chargé d''écrire les discours de l''empereur Tibère, il tombe un jour en disgrâce et doit s''exiler en Judée. Il y fait la connaissance d''un jeune vagabond juif sans foi ni loi, obsédé par l''argent et le sexe, qui le fascine littéralement. Lui vient alors une idée : faire passer ce jeune homme au charisme indéniable pour le Messie tant attendu... Jésus de Nazareth revu et corrigé par l''auteur du Roi des Juifs : il fallait l''irrévérence et l''érudition de l''un des derniers hors-la-loi de la littérature américaine pour s''emparer d''un tel sujet. Se moquant de la religiosité et la morale, Nick Tosches dérange, choque, bouscule, et confirme une fois de plus sa virtuosité. « Un livre aussi dérangeant qu''irrésistiblement drôle. En un mot : brillant. » Publishers Weekly

Dans un recoin des archives secrètes de la bibliothèque vaticane, Nick Tosches découvre un codex vieux de deux mille ans qui relate les mémoires d''un aristocrate romain : Gaius Fulvius Falconius. Orateur de talent chargé d''écrire les discours de l''empereur Tibère, il tombe un jour en disgrâce et doit s''exiler en Judée. Il y fait la connaissance d''un jeune vagabond juif sans foi ni loi, obsédé par l''argent et le sexe, qui le fascine littéralement. Lui vient alors une idée : faire passer ce jeune homme au charisme indéniable pour le Messie tant attendu... Jésus de Nazareth revu et corrigé par l''auteur du Roi des Juifs : il fallait l''irrévérence et l''érudition de l''un des derniers hors-la-loi de la littérature américaine pour s''emparer d''un tel sujet. Se moquant de la religiosité et la morale, Nick Tosches dérange, choque, bouscule, et confirme une fois de plus sa virtuosité.

La dramática y truculenta vida de Jerry Lee Lewis es una de las más legendarias de la historia de la música popular norteamericana. Considerada una de las mejores biografías jamás escritas, "Fuego eterno (Hellfire)" es un fascinante relato que bascula entre la ficción más oscura y desatada y una precisión documental quirúrgica, y que desde su publicación en 1982 no ha dejado de ser aclamado y reivindicado. Nacido en Luisiana de una dinastía que se remonta a los primeros colonos -una estirpe de jugadores y bebedores empedernidos-, Jerry Lee Lewis se debatió desde su temprana juventud entre el Espíritu Santo y las tentaciones del demonio; entre la Salvación y el sexo, las drogas y el rock and roll, y fraguó junto con otros muchachos indómitos una de las grandes revoluciones culturales y musicales de Occidente. Empezó a tocar a los catorce años, cuando descubrió que el piano -que tocaba como un poseso- podía ser un instrumento diabólico y espiritual, y a los veintiuno grabó "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" para la mítica discográfica Sun Records de Memphis y se convirtió en leyenda. Poco después vendrían la provocadora "Great Balls of Fire", las drogas, el arrebato, la fama desmesurada, el matrimonio con su prima de trece años, la infamia y el escándalo... Y cuando parecía que su carrera estaba acabada, renació como artista country a finales de los 60. "Fuego eterno" ilumina el alma atormentada de uno de los salvajes más perdurables de la cultura popular y da cuenta de la gran revolución que supuso la eclosión del rock and roll, cuyo estruendo y revulsivo han llegado hasta nuestros días.

Sotto Tiberio è un''emozionante storia di crimini e inganni che racconta di un uomo chiamato Gesù Cristo. Nei recessi della biblioteca Vaticana viene ritrovato un codice antichissimo, scritto in un latino elegante; narra di un tristissimus hominum, il più tetro fra gli uomini - l''imperatore Tiberio - e di Jesvs, detto Gesù. L''autore che l''ha scritto, nel primo secolo, è Gaio Fulvio Falconio, mandato in esilio da Tiberio nella misera terra di Cesarea. Eppure in quella terra Falconio percepisce subito un''aspettativa diffusa nell''aria, la promessa di una salvezza finale, sancita dal Libro sacro dei Giudei, dopo "un''eternità passata nell''attesa, nel lamento e nel pianto". Tutta una bugia, pensa l''aristocratico romano, ma che potrebbe essere raccolta e rilanciata: con parole nuove, come proprio lui aveva già fatto a Roma con l''imperatore, dando preziosi consigli, scrivendo discorsi costruiti con maestose parole, creando l''illusione di un nuovo dio. Perché non farlo anche qui in Giudea, creare un nuovo profeta e liberarsi di Roma? E per avidità naturalmente, per mungere le nascoste ricchezze di quel deserto. Ed ecco che davanti a lui - tra tutti i malridotti messia possibili, numerosi come mosche - si fa avanti uno strano accattone con gli occhi luminosi. Sono Gesù, dice, "nato dalla sporcizia, figlio del nulla". Insieme faremo miracoli, miracoli per denaro. Romanzo di scandalosa audacia e bellezza, crudo e lirico, Sotto Tiberio squarcia il tessuto dei vangeli apocrifi e delle loro suggestioni con sconsolata determinazione e ci restituisce un Gesù immaginario e inimmaginabile. Ci racconta che, ovunque si trovi speranza, lì ci sarà miseria e che il mondo, con il suo carico di sozzura, di corruzione e ingiustizia, "è l''unico paradiso che mai potremo conoscere". Il Gesù di Nick Tosches, soltanto un uomo.

A work of dangerous and haunting beauty by America's last real literary outlaw. Under Tiberius is a thrilling story of crime and deceit involving the man who came to be called Jesus Christ. Deep in the recesses of the Vatican, Nick Tosches unearths a first-century memoir by Gaius Fulvius Falconius, foremost speechwriter for Emperor Tiberius. The codex is profound, proof of the existence of a Messiah who was anything but the one we've known -- a shabby and licentious thief. After encountering him in the streets of Judea, Gaius becomes spin doctor to Jesus, and the pair schemes to accrue untold riches by convincing the masses that Jesus is the Son of God. As their marriage of truth and lies is consummated, friendship and wary respect develop between these two grifters. Outrageous and disturbing, Under Tiberius is as black as the ravishing night, shot through with fierce and brilliant light.

En una cámara secreta de la biblioteca del Vaticano, aparece el objeto más extraño y valioso jamás des-cubierto: el manuscrito de ?La Divina Comedia?, del puño y letra del mismísimo Dante. El sacerdote que encuentra este tesoro lo envía a su casa en Sicilia, donde cae en manos más terrenales. Y no mucho después, un escritor llamado Nick Tosches, ya cerca de la muerte y preparado para cualquier cosa, recibe la llamada telefónica de un amigo. Hay algo que quiere que vea, un manuscrito que necesita ser examinado para determinar su autenticidad. Tosches reconoce las páginas como lo que son... y se embarca en la aventura más terrorífica de toda su vida.

Once upon a time, Nick Tosches was a young boy.

An aging New Yorker, a writer named Nick, feels life ebbing out of him. The world has gone to hell and Nick is so sick of it all that he can't even have a glass of champagne. Then one night he meets a tantalizing young woman who agrees to come back to his apartment. Their encounter is the most strangely extraordinary of his life. Propelled by uncontrollable, primordial desires, he enters a new and unimagined dimension of the forbidden and is filled with a sexual and spiritual ecstasy that is as intense as it is unholy. Suddenly Nick's senses are alive. He feels strong, unconquerable, beyond all inhibition and earthly morality. He indulges in life's pleasures, pure and perverse, sublime and dangerous, from the delicate flavors of the perfect tomato to the fleshy beauty of a woman's thigh. But Nick's desire to sustain his rapture leads him to a madness and a darkness far greater and dreadful than have ever ridden the demon mares of night. Writing in a lineage that includes Dante, William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby, Jr., and Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Tosches may be America's last real literary outlaw -- a fearless, uncensorable seeker of our deepest secret truths and desires, from the basest to the most beautiful. Me and the Devil is outrageous, disturbing, and brilliant, a raw and blazing novel truly unlike any other. Like the man said: Read him at your peril. "A raw and blazing novel by "the single, most brain-searingly dangerous man of letters. Read him at your peril." -- Anthony Bourdain

C''était une sacrée époque, on l''aura compris.

Nonfiction back stories of 1960''s rock and roll music business pioneers- the labels, the artists and the promoters, told in the gritty style of Nick Tosches.

Nick Tosches discovered Thierry Alonso Gravleur''s paintings in one of the major Los Angeles art galleries. He was immediately stricken by the strength of Gravleur''s expressionist works which almost obsessively explore the human face: Gravleur is capable of rendering a face like no-one since Rembrandt and of capturing a soul like no-one since Bosch. Both artists meet and unsurprisingly decide to work together. They share the same vision of a humanity torn between idealization and pulsing. The result matches each artist''s talent: Tosches'' words echo Gravleur''s drawings; Gravleur''s drawings and paintings illustrate Tosches'' words.

A chacun son dieu. Nick Tosches, écrivain aussi déjanté qu''érudit, a choisi le sien : Arnold Rothstein, le " roi des Juifs ", un célèbre gangster des années 1920. De sa naissance en Bessarabie à son arrivée dans le Lower East Side, Tosches retrace avec une méticulosité sidérante la vie de ce truand légendaire, métaphore d''un New York cosmopolite et violent, où il faut parfois tuer pour survivre. Radioscopie d''une époque révolue, pamphlet, saga, élégie de l''american dream, réalité ou pur mensonge... Entre la fiction et le documentaire, Nick Tosches se livre en virtuose à un tour de prestidigitation éblouissant.

A portrait of notorious gambler and New York businessman Arnold Rothstein examines the myths that surrounded his life, from his alleged links to the fixing of the 1919 World Series to his inspiration of literary and stage characters.

"Un manuscrit complet de ''La divine comédie'', rédigé de la main même de Dante, telle est la découverte extraordinaire et inespérée qui est faite à la Bibliothèque vaticane par un prêtre sicilien. Cette mise à jour suscite bien des cupidités : ce sont des millions et des millions de dollars que l''on pourrait gagner en vendant feuille à feuille l''autographe unique du grand poète italien... Mais pour cela, les ''mafiosi'' qui s''emparent de l''affaire ont besoin d''un conseiller qui inspire confiance, capable d''authentifier le document et qui puisse entrer en relation avec les éventuels acquéreurs. Ils ont tôt fait de découvrir l''homme de la situation : Nick Tosches lui-même, écrivain fou de Dante, qui désespère de la littérature et manque cruellement d''argent... Thriller à la violence implacable, journal désabusé, évocation des mystères de l''œuvre de Dante... Nick Tosches joue sur les trois registres avec une maestria nonchalante et souveraine." [Source : 4e de couv.]

En écoutant un jour un disque d'Emmett Miller enregistré dans les années 1930, N. Tosches se lance dans des recherches sur cet artiste qu'il ne connaît pas. Il découvre que celui-ci participait à des spectacles de blackface minstrel. C'est le point de départ de N. Tosches pour traverser toute l'histoire de la musique américaine, depuis les bouges du Sud profond aux clubs de Broadway...

The author, fueled by romantic, spiritual, and medicinal needs, details his mesmerizing quest--part spiritual, part hallucinogenic--from Europe to Cambodia, in search of the mysterious opium den, ultimately discovering the key to true fulfillment. 20,000 first printing.

Deep inside the Vatican library, a priest discovers the rarest and most valuable art object ever found: the manuscript of The Divine Comedy, written in Dante's own hand. Via Sicily, the manuscript makes its way from the priest to a mob boss in New York City, where a writer named Nick Tosches is called to authenticate the prize. For this writer, the temptation is too great: he steals the manuscript in a last-chance bid to have it all. Some will find it offensive; others will declare it transcendent; it is certain to be the most ragingly debated novel of the decade.

In 1962, Sonny Liston became boxing's world heavyweight champion. He was a poor plantation boy and a bruiser for the mob who had done time for armed robbery, but he had fought his way to the top. Those he met in the ring said he was unstoppable, even dangerous. Sonny, however, knew differently.

Sous forme d''un témoignage, l''auteur nous livre sa quête: celle d''une recherche constante et incessante de fumeries d''opium et toutes les sensations qu''il éprouve au cours de ce parcours. (OFDT).

Le rock''n''roll n''a pas commencé avec Elvis, c''est ce que montre Nick Tosches en offrant une hallucinante galerie de portraits de ses héros obscurs, tous plus déjantés les uns que les autres : Big Joe Tuner, Screamin'' Jay Hawkins, Louis Prima ou encore Ming et Ling, les rockers chinois.

Newsday has said that Nick Tosches "casts brilliant black light." The San Diego Reader has said that "Tosches's best sentences uncoil like rattlesnakes and strike with a venom that spreads poison through all the little Sunday-school ideas you've held dear." And Rolling Stone has said that "Tosches can write like a wild rockabilly raveup. He can be elegant as a slow blues." The Nick Tosches Reader is the author's own selection of his best work over the past thirty years, including fiction, poetry, interviews, rock writing, investigative journalism, and criticism. First published in major magazines, obscure underground periodicals, and his own best-selling books, many of these selections deal with rock 'n' roll and cultural icons—but there are also pieces on everything from William Faulkner to organized crime to heavyweight boxing, including the Vanity Fair feature that gave rise to Tosches's major new book on Sonny Liston, published by Little, Brown. Here is "a unique and darkly impressionistic cultural history" of the last three decades as only Nick Tosches could write it.

The anti-Ali, Sonny Liston represents everything that is compelling and terrifying about boxing. An overwhelmingly powerful fighter, Liston rose from a desperately poor childhood to street criminal to world heavyweight champion. He then became the pawn of a series of criminal organizations and was shadowed throughout his life by government investigations, arrests, and the rumor of corruption. The Devil and Sonny Liston is not just the biography of a boxer; it is one of the greatest organized-crime stories ever told and confirms Toschess place as one of the most powerful and original writers of our time. Toschess acclaimed biography of Dean Martin, Dino, sold more than 110,000 copies From the rappers Wu-Tang Clan to writer Thom Jones, people are fascinated by Sonny Liston and by boxing in general. King of the World by David Remnick sold more than 100,000 copies. Tom Cruises Cruise/Wagner Productions is at work on a movie based on this book. A collection of Toschess best writing, The Nick Tosches Reader, is due out in 2000. Tosches is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair.