Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Kill 'Em and Leave
Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul | James McBride
National Book Award winner James McBride goes in search of the real James Brown after receiving a tip that promises to uncover the man behind the myth. His surprising journey illuminates not only our understanding of this immensely troubled, misunderstood, and complicated soul genius but the ways in which our cultural heritage has been shaped by Browns legacy. Kill Em and Leave is more than a book about James Brown. Browns rough-and-tumble life, through McBrides lens, is an unsettling metaphor for American life: the tension between North and South, black and white, rich and poor. McBrides travels take him to forgotten corners of Browns never-before-revealed history: the country town where Browns family and thousands of others were displaced by Americas largest nuclear power bomb-making facility; a South Carolina field where a long-forgotten cousin recounts, in the dead of night, a fuller history of Browns sharecropping childhood, which until now has been a mystery. McBride seeks out the American expatriate in England who co-created the James Brown sound, visits the trusted right-hand manager who worked with Brown for forty-one years, and interviews Browns most influential nonmusical creation, his adopted son, the Reverend Al Sharpton. He describes the stirring visit of Michael Jackson to the Augusta, Georgia, funeral home where the King of Pop sat up all night with the body of his musical godfather, spends hours talking with Browns first wife, and lays bare the Dickensian legal contest over James Browns estate, a fight that has consumed careers; prevented any money from reaching the poor schoolchildren in Georgia and South Carolina, as instructed in his will; cost Browns estate millions in legal fees; and left James Browns body to lie for more than eight years in a gilded coffin in his daughters yard in South Carolina. James McBride is one of the most distinctive and electric literary voices in America today, andpart of the pleasure of his narrative is being in his presence, coming to understand Brown through McBrides own insights as a black musician with Southern roots.Kill Em and Leave is a song unearthing and celebrating James Browns great legacy: the cultural landscape of America today. Praise for Kill Em and Leave The definitive look at one of the greatest, most important entertainers, The Godfather, Da Number One Soul Brother, Mr. Please, Please HimselfJAMES BROWN.Spike Lee Please, please, please: Can anybody tell us who and what was James Brown? At last, the real deal: James McBride on James Brown is the matchup weve been waiting for, a musician who came up hard in Brooklyn with JB hooks lodged in his brain, a monster ear for the truth, and the chops to write it. This is no celeb bio but a compelling personal questso very timely, angry, hilarious, and as irresistible as any James Brown beat.Gerri Hirshey, author of Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music An unconventional and fascinating portrait of Soul Brother No. 1 and the significance of his rise and fall in American culture.Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Hardcover edition.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
Sharp_Cornaz
post image
Pickpick

Come important, leave important. Leave a bag of diamonds for all I care. Kill em and leave, Rev. WHATEVER YOU DO AVOID THE EXECRABLE MOVIE “GET ON UP”. Read this book, rather.

blurb
megnews
post image

$1 Dollar Tree book find and indulgences I didn‘t plan to get! 😂

kspenmoll Great haul! 5y
37 likes1 comment
review
8little_paws
post image
Pickpick

A series of essays, really, about McBride's travels to learn about James Brown, and many interviews with family and friends. This was my first McBride, and his writing style sings with an original sound on every page. Particularly of note is the chapter about his first wife and their 2 sons, one who died in a car accident as a young adult.

blurb
BooksForYears
post image

Wishing James McBride a happy 60th birthday!

I'm eagerly awaiting his short story collection, FIVE-CARAT SOUL, being released later this month - and planning to attend his tour stop at the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia in October.

MidnightBookGirl I've only read The Good Lord Bird by him, but I loved it!🎈🎈 7y
kyraleseberg I read Song Yet Sung earlier this year and he became an instant favorite. I immediately added all of his books to my TBR. 7y
vivastory I haven't read him yet, but Good Lord Bird is coming high on my TBR 7y
97 likes3 comments
review
karenna
post image
Pickpick

Reads more like a series of essays, rather than a standard biography, and covers issues such as race, music, and law in addition to recounting events in the lives of James Brown and his associates. I enjoyed the conversational tone McBride uses and recommend this book even if you are not a fan of Brown's music.

blurb
stacybmartin
post image

Today's #labsoundtrack as I write reports on this rainy, dark Friday and count down the hours until freedom! 💜

blurb
tbard

finely written musician biography

review
missberlyreads
Pickpick

This slim volume tells a larger than life story. It's not a traditional bio. It's sort of a road trip/travel memoir as the author visits GA, SC, NYC, and even goes abroad to talk with Brown's family, band, business associates, and childhood friends. It was intimate and revealing, but wasn't trashy or gossipy. I could feel Mr. Brown's energy pulsing through the pages. Even if you're not familiar with him I think you'll find this book interesting.

blurb
missberlyreads
post image

#riotgrams Day 16: #bookmark These magnetic markers are my faves!

25 likes1 comment
blurb
missberlyreads
post image
bitterbear Ooohhhh what's this book about?? 8y
missberlyreads @bitterbear James Brown! So far it reads like an extra long Rolling Stone feature but I'm loving it! 8y
18 likes2 comments
review
SharonGoforth
post image
Pickpick

This is one of the most interesting books I've read in some time. Part biography, part racial commentary, part music history: this book is all over the place, but in a very good way. I'm old enough to remember James Brown in his heyday, but there's a lot for people of all ages and musical likes to gain from reading this. McBride (a musician himself) did a great job. #blacklivesmatter #diversebooks #godfatherofsoul #overthis

49 likes7 stack adds
blurb
SharonGoforth
post image

I love to read in bed! 🛏. I get up early and go to bed early so I can read in bed. 😊. I usually have my cat with me, but it's cold here and she's hanging out in front of the register keeping warm 😺 #readinginbed #photoadaynov16

LauraJ How you like the book so far? 8y
SharonGoforth @LauraJ I like it a lot! Slow reading for me because McBride has a lot to say, and not just about James Brown. It's really good. 8y
LauraJ @SharonGoforth Very tempted by this, but I'm so behind on reading. 8y
SharonGoforth @LauraJ I know that feeling!! 8y
50 likes4 comments
blurb
SharonGoforth
post image

Wow!! 😱😱You know the feeling you get when you've only read the first three pages and you are completely blown away...

Gulfsidemusing Never seems to happen often enough... enjoy!😀📚 8y
SharonGoforth @Lakesidemusing True!!!! Thanks 😊 8y
46 likes4 stack adds2 comments
review
libchristina
post image
Pickpick

I really loved this book. The main thing I didn't like was that McBride tended to repeat himself. For a lot of stories, McBride mentioned them at least two to three different times. Overall, it was a great book. #nonfictionnovember

blurb
BooksForYears
post image

My next pick for #NonfictionNovember is ostensibly about the groundbreaking musician James Brown, but is really about American racism, greed, violence, and poverty.

If you're interested in hearing about the book from the author himself, here's a live stream of his talk at the Free Library of Philadelphia that I attended - he is an amazing speaker! http://livestream.com/FLP/McBride

#currentlyreading #jamesmcbride #overit

Cinfhen Love, love, love James McBride. I actually had the pleasure of attending a wedding, where we were both guests and we were seated at the same table🙌🏻 He was such an incredible ,intelligent and humble conversationalist. 8y
BooksForYears @Cinfhen How exciting! I got the impression that he would be full of stories and an excellent dinner companion! 8y
BookishFeminist Looks like a good #OverIt list addition too. Saw James McBride speak at the National Book Festival! It was a great conversation. He's the best. This book is super fascinating. 8y
See All 7 Comments
vivastory @BooksForYears I've been wanting to know more about James Brown for awhile now. This looks great, thanks for the recommendation. 8y
BooksForYears @BookishFeminist Hashtag added! 💪🏼 8y
BookishFeminist @BooksForYears 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 making good trouble. 8y
beaniebankbeth Such a good read! Enjoy. 8y
101 likes9 stack adds7 comments
blurb
libchristina
post image

I just started to listen to this today. It is very good so far. I also like listening to Julian's, I mean Dominic Hoffman's narration. #nonfictionnovember

blurb
she_barks
post image

So bookseller Kenny Coble in Tacoma, WA lets us know that Brazos Bookstore in Houston was robbed, and I'm sitting at a park in Colorado buying books from them to show support. Litsy is amazing.

91 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
she_barks

So bookseller Kenny Coble in Tacoma, WA lets us know that Brazos Bookstore in Houston was robbed, and I'm sitting at a park in Colorado buying books from them to show support. Litsy is amazing.

quote
booksbythecup

There are four B' s in music: Bach,  Beethoven,  Brahms,  and Brown.

review
booksbythecup
post image
Pickpick

Every chapter in this book was an adventure and a bit of insight into the life of a musical genius, an icon, a search into the life of a man many claimed to know, understood by few

3 likes2 stack adds
review
KelseyCB
Pickpick

A truly outstanding book. Brilliant writing and commentary...on James Brown, music in general, the American south, and race in the U.S.

9 likes2 stack adds
blurb
KelseyCB
post image

Brilliant writing. As much a commentary on the south as a biography of James Brown. Wow.

LinaLovesLit Wow, that's hitting the nail on the head! 8y
KelseyCB It's insightful and so beautifully written. Happy to have discovered this writer--he's excellent! 8y
9 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
KelseyCB
post image

If the title, table contents, and mind-blowing foreword don't hook you like they've hooked me, don't tell me...I don't want to know.

9 likes2 stack adds
blurb
mlabrise
post image

James McBride on James Brown: a riveting blend of investigative journalism & memoir from a brilliant writer & musician