One of "The Telegraph"'s Best Music Books 2011

Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, "The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century," has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross""as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians." Listen to This," which takes its title from a beloved 2004 essay""in which Ross describes his late-blooming discovery of pop music, ""showcases the best of his writing from more than a decade at" The New Yorker." These pieces, dedicated to classical and popular""artists alike, are at once erudite and lively. In a previously unpublished""essay, Ross brilliantly retells hundreds of years of music""history--from Renaissance dances to Led Zeppelin--through a few""iconic bass lines of celebration and lament. He vibrantly sketches""canonical composers such as Schubert, Verdi, and Brahms; gives""us in-depth interviews with modern pop masters such as Bjork""and Radiohead; and introduces us to music students at a Newark""high school and indie-rock hipsters in Beijing.
Whether his subject is Mozart or Bob Dylan, Ross shows how music expresses the full complexity of the human condition. Witty, passionate, and brimming with insight, "Listen to This "teaches us how to listen more closely.

The best-loved comic characters in the world - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the JLA and many more - are all brought to life by the number one fan-favourite artist working in the medium today, the incomparable Alex Ross. With a new jacket and an additional 16 pages, this book reveals Ross's lifelong love of these classic superheroes and his vision - combining his dynamic art with Chip Kidd's kinetic design. Step into the studio for a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, with hundreds of never-before seen sketches, limited edition prints, and prototype sculptures. It also has 32 pages of exclusive new material centring on Ross's startling new comic series, "Justice", written by Jim Kreuger, with Ross painting over Doug Braithwaite's pencils!

An all-new Marvel Comics graphic novel starring the Fantastic Four, written and illustrated by renowned artist Alex RossIt's a rainy night in Manhattan and not a creature is stirring except for . . . Ben Grimm. When an intruder suddenly appears inside the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four-Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm)-find themselves surrounded by a swarm of invading parasites. These carrion creatures composed of Negative Energy come to Earth using a human host as a delivery system. But for what purpose? And who is behind this untimely invasion?The Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter, risking not just their own lives but the fate of the cosmos!Fantastic Four: Full Circleis the first longform work written and illustrated by acclaimed artist Alex Ross, who revisits a classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby story from the 1960s and introduces the storyline for a new generation of readers. With bold, vivid colors and his trademark visual storytelling, Ross takes Marvel's first team of super heroes to places only he can illustrate. The book also features a special poster jacket, with the front flap unfolding to reveal an all-new fully painted origin story of the Fantastic Four. Welcome to the Negative Zone and MarvelArts-a new collaborative line of books between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts-where nothing is impossible and anything can happen!

'An absolutely masterly work' Stephen Fry Alex Ross, renowned author of the international bestseller The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics-an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence. For better or worse, Wagner is the most widely influential figure in the history of music. Around 1900, the phenomenon known as Wagnerism saturated European and American culture. Such colossal creations as The Ring of the Nibelung, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal were models of formal daring, mythmaking, erotic freedom, and mystical speculation. A mighty procession of writers, artists, and thinkers, including Charles Baudelaire, Virginia Woolf, Isadora Duncan, Vasily Kandinsky, and Luis Bunuel, felt his impact. Anarchists, occultists, feminists, and gay-rights pioneers saw him as a kindred spirit. Then Adolf Hitler incorporated Wagner into the soundtrack of Nazi Germany, and the composer came to be defined by his ferocious anti-Semitism. His name is now almost synonymous with artistic evil. Wagnerism restores the magnificent confusion of what it means to be a Wagnerian. A pandemonium of geniuses, madmen, charlatans, and prophets do battle over Wagner's many-sided legacy. The narrative ranges across artistic disciplines, from architecture to the novels of Philip K. Dick, from the Zionist writings of Theodor Herzl to the civil-rights essays of W. E. B. Du Bois, from O Pioneers! to Apocalypse Now. In many ways,Wagnerism tells a tragic tale. An artist who might have rivalled Shakespeare in universal reach is implicated in an ideology of hate. Still, his shadow lingers over twenty-first century culture, his mythic motifs coursing through superhero films and fantasy fiction. Neither apologia nor condemnation, Wagnerism is a work of intellectual passion, urging us toward a more honest idea of how art acts in the world.

A hero dreams of flight. An alien spy prepares for invasion. A young man is mentored by a hero with dark secrets. A street criminal discovers a hero's identity. And much, much more. Step into a world of heroes and see them from a whole different perspective. These are the multiple-award-winning stories that began the epic series and changed how we think about superheroes. Collects KURT BUSIEK'S ASTRO CITY, VOL. 1 (#1-6) & VOL. 2 (#1-12, #1/2)

After a cataclysmic event costs the lives of millions, the Justice League--led by a rejuvenated Superman--returns to bring balance back to the world. However, the new guard will not go down quietly. A battle is coming between the uncompromising protectors and a untamed group of young powerhouses--one that will define what heroism truly is. Winner of five Eisner and Harvey Awards, Kingdom Come is the best-selling graphic novel form acclaimed writer Mark Waid and superstar painter Alex Ross. DC Black Label, a new publishing imprint from DC Entertainment, gives premier talent the opportunity to expand upon the canon of DC's iconic Super Hero comic book characters with unique, standalone stories that are outside of the current DC Universe continuity. An all-star line-up of creative teams will craft their own personal definitive DC stories in the tradition of compelling literary works like Batman: The Killing Joke, All-Star Superman and DC: The New Frontier.

"I'd Love to Draw" is a collection of work by the innovative American artist Andrew Loomis, previously unseen by anyone outside the Loomis family and available in print for the first time ever. Having been held in the Loomis family archive for decades after the artist's death, I'd Love to Draw has been restored by a group of devoted experts, including the globally renowned comic book artist and Loomis devotee Alex Ross.

Thirteen years after his Eisner Award-winning, nationally best-selling Mythology--here is the long-awaited Marvel Comics counterpart, a retrospective celebration of the other half of the comics galaxy that is currently ruling the world: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, the Avengers, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Fantastic Four. "Alex is a legend. Even if you don't consider yourself a comics-head, you should check out his work to see what the best of the form has to offer." --Ta-Nehisi Coates As he did for the DC characters in Mythology, Alex Ross now brings the heroes of the Marvel universe into dynamic life as never before. Marvelocity includes more than 50 never-been-published sketches, paintings, photographs and working models, and other preparatory art, and a 14-panel portfolio gallery of Marvel's most beloved characters. And Ross has written a new 10-page story pitting Spider-Man against the Sinister Six--the webslinger's most popular villains--that ends with a stunning twist. With an introduction by J. J. Abrams

"Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle ""Award for Criticism
""A "New York Times Book Review "Top Ten Book of the Year
"Time "magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007
"Newsweek" Favorite Books of 2007
""A" Washington Post Book World "Best Book of 2007
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In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for "The New Yorker," weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. "The Rest Is Noise" is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

From renowned comics artist Alex Ross, the companion volume to The Alex Ross Marvel Comics Poster Book—a deluxe poster collection of Marvel Comics’s greatest villains From Abomination to Venom, all your favorite Marvel Comics super villains are featured in this exclusive collection of painted portraits by Alex Ross—one of the most respected and influential artists working in comics. This eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Alex Ross Marvel Comics Poster Book is the first-ever collection of these stunning and dynamic portraits and comes with 37 ready-to-frame, removable art prints as well as an all-new introduction and commentary by Ross, preparatory sketches and ancillary illustrations, and a bonus four-page gatefold of all 37 iconic portraits. These villainous posters showcase Marvel’s rogue’s gallery as you’ve never seen them before—as realistic as any on the silver screen—painted in the award-winning, breathtaking style that has made Ross famous.

"Playing in an orchestra in an intelligent way is the best school for democracy."--Daniel Barenboim The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been led by a storied group of conductors. And from 1994 to 2015, through the best work of Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, and Ricardo Muti, Andrew Patner was right there. As music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and WFMT radio, Patner was able to trace the arc of the CSO's changing repertories, all while cultivating a deep rapport with its four principal conductors. This book assembles Patner's reviews of the concerts given by the CSO during this time, as well as transcripts of his remarkable radio interviews with these colossal figures. These pages hold tidbits for the curious, such as Patner's "driving survey" that playfully ranks the Maestri he knew on a scale of "total comfort" to "fright level five," and the observation that Muti appears to be a southpaw on the baseball field. Moving easily between registers, they also open revealing windows onto the sometimes difficult pasts that brought these conductors to music in the first place, including Boulez's and Haitink's heartbreaking experiences of Nazi occupation in their native countries as children. Throughout, these reviews and interviews are threaded together with insights about the power of music and the techniques behind it--from the conductors' varied approaches to research, preparing scores, and interacting with other musicians, to how the sound and personality of the orchestra evolved over time, to the ways that we can all learn to listen better and hear more in the music we love. Featuring a foreword by fellow critic Alex Ross on the ethos and humor that informed Patner's writing, as well as an introduction and extensive historical commentary by musicologist Douglas W. Shadle, this book offers a rich portrait of the musical life of Chicago through the eyes and ears of one of its most beloved critics.

A deluxe collection of Marvel Comics superhero posters from renowned comics artist Alex Ross From Angel to Wolverine, all your favorite Marvel Comics superheroes are featured in this exclusive collection of painted portraits by Alex Ross-one of most respected and influential artists working in comics. This first-ever collection of these iconic images includes 35 ready-to-frame, removeable art prints-perfect for longtime Marvel fans and those just discovering these classic heroes for the first time-as well as commentary by Ross, preliminary sketches, and a bonus four-page gatefold of the portraits, assembled into a mural that was commissioned for Marvel's New York City offices. These heroic posters showcase the Marvel superheroes as you've never seen them before-as realistic as any on the silver screen-painted in the award-winning, breathtaking style that made Alex Ross famous.

DC Comics Absolute Editions set the standard for the highest quality, most in-depth presentation of classic graphic novels. Each oversized volume is presented in a slipcase and includes unique additional material making each Absolute Edition a cornerstone of any serious comic collection. The latest Absolute Collection is the classic KINGDOM COME, written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Alex Ross. This riveting story set in the future pits the old guard Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and their peers against a new, uncompromising generation of heroes in the final war to determine the fate of the planet. Published to tie-in with the 10th Anniversary of its original publication, ABSOLUTE KINGDOM COME is packaged in a beautifully designed slipcase that features an all-new painted image by Alex Ross, annotations of the entire series, rare art, promotional images, a gallery of DC Direct Kingdom Come products, a feature on the evolution of a story page and much more.

Dynamite presents the first 18 issues of the acclaimed Red Sonja series in one massive omnibus, featuring the work of Mike Carey, Michael Avon Oeming, Mel Rubi, Pablo Marcos, Lee Moder, Stephen Sadowski, Michael Turner, Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Joe Linsner, and many more.

In a personal story told from the hero's point of view, both young Billy Batson and his alter ego, Captain Marvel, devote themselves to keeping hope alive by granting the requests of a local hospital's children--in a sense, making their wishes come true. From the fan-favorite team behind SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH and BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME comes the third entry in the oversized tabloid format series that has revolutionized comics. SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE marks the latest collaboration between Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Paul Dini (BATMAN: HARLEY QUINN) and multiple award-winning Alex Ross (KINGDOM COME, UNCLE SAM). Perhaps no classic comic-book character embodies the spirit of youth and optimism as thoroughly as Captain Marvel--the wish fulfillment of every child who ever dreamed of having super powers and taking flight. In a personal story told from the hero's point of view, both young Billy Batson and his alter ego, Captain Marvel, devote themselves to keeping hope alive by granting the requests of a local hospital's children--in a sense, making their wishes come true. Powerfully written by Dini, with staggering painted art by Ross that combines traditional comic-book storytelling and the illustrated-text format of storybooks, SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE finds our hero taking a direct hand upon meeting a boy who has been injured by domestic violence. Deeply affected by the encounter, our story shows just how human the World's Mightiest Mortal truly is.