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Gary Moore delighted entire generations with his passionate guitar
playing, from the driving rock of Thin Lizzy in the 1970s to his
explorations in subsequent decades of jazz fusion, heavy metal,
hard rock, blues rock, and more. Throughout that time, he could be
seen on the world s biggest stages, yet the real Gary Moore was
always hidden in plain sight, giving little away. Now, however,
through extensive and revealing interviews with family members,
friends, and fellow musicians, acclaimed rock biographer Harry
Shapiro is able to take readers right to the heart of Gary s life
and career. Despite his early death in 2011, Moore still has
legions of devoted fans across the world who will be enthralled by
this unique insight into the life of a guitar genius who did it his
way and whose music lives on. Beginning with Gary as a teenage
guitar prodigy in war-torn Ireland and continuing through the many
highs and lows of more than forty years in rock, Shapiro paints an
intimate portrait of a musician widely hailed as one of the
greatest Irish bluesmen of all time.
In July 1920, when the first Dangerous Drugs Act was passed, the UK
drug scene was limited to small groups of Soho night people smoking
opium and sniffing coke, and some middle- and upper-class people
(mainly women) around the country quietly getting private morphine
prescriptions from their GP. Now, exactly 100 years on, we have
hundreds of thousands of people using a whole smorgasbord of
different drugs. How did that happen? The nineteenth century saw
scientific developments whose unintended consequences laid the
foundations for the modern explosion of recreational and chronic
drug use, which has in turn sparked a worldwide effort to stop it.
At first encouraged by the commercial opportunities afforded by
widespread 'cures' - many consisting of little more than heroin or
cocaine - by the twentieth century a moral crusade had gathered
force to curb this new social ill. In truth, although the dangers
of drug use were very real, the origins of the war against drugs
stemmed from wider fears in society. In this new book, the
culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the topic,
Harry Shapiro isolates the different elements behind the war on
drugs to present an issue reaching boiling point. Using a range of
interviews, documentation, private papers, government archives and
studies from the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence,
Shapiro synthesises a tale of crime, money, politics and
exploitation bigger than any country.
There are some Jews who believe that the Messiah has already
returned. Although these Jews are considered cult members or
apostates by many, Carol Harris-Shapiro-herself a rabbi-engages one
community of Messianic Jews to see what their presence says about
American Jewish identity, religious affiliation, and the emergence
of hybrid faiths in a secular society.
When first published, "Messianic Judaism" stirred controversy
throughout the country. The first book to critically examine the
role of Messianic Jews in American religious life, it traces the
history of this faith that that accepts Jesus as the savior from
its late nineteenth-century origin in evangelical Christian
missions. Reconstructionist Rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro bases this
portrait on her conversations with members of a large Messianic
Jewish community. "Messianic Judaism" adds significant new insights
into the nature and varieties of religious experience in United
States.
Eric Clapton's position as the world's greatest rock guitarist is
unlikely to change in our lifetime. His career over the past four
decades has been closely followed by millions of fans, as a member
of the influential Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream,
Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominoes, and for many years as a highly
successful solo artist. He has a vast catalogue behind him. His
rise to guitar hero in the 60s led to a much documented involvement
with drugs. The historic Rainbow concert marked the beginning of
his return. His turbulent marriage to Patti Boyd was another media
favorite. Ultimately it is Clapton's music and complete mastery of
the electric guitar which is his most important attribute.
Unavailable for several years, Shapiro's earlier study, "Slowhand,"
established itself as one of the classics of rock biography. Here
the life is fully reappraised and brought up-to-date to cover the
tragic death of Clapton's son, Conor, in 1991 and includes a
complete discography and many previously unpublished photographs.
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