{"title":"Books by Simon Morrison","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780007576630","title":"Bolshoi Confidential","description":"On a freezing night in January 2013, an assailant hurled acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, dragging one of Russia’s most illustrious institutions into scandal.In Bolshoi Confidential, renowned musicologist Simon Morrison shows how the attack, and its torrid aftermath, underscored the importance of the Bolshoi to the art of ballet, to Russia, and to the world.With exclusive access to state archives and private sources, Morrison sweeps us through the history of the ballet, from its disreputable beginnings in 1776 to the recent £450 million restoration that has returned the Bolshoi to its former glory, even as its prized talent has departed.As Morrison reveals, the Bolshoi has transcended its own fraught history, surviving 250 years of artistic and political upheaval to define not only Russian culture, but also ballet itself.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56220471034229,"sku":"9780007576630","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780007576630_57d26d04-dbff-4a11-8fdb-237a7acb577b.jpg?v=1785658808"},{"product_id":"9780099581789","title":"The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs heard on Radio 4 Book of the Week\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLina Prokofiev was alone in her Moscow apartment one night when the telephone rang. The caller insisted that she come downstairs to collect a parcel, but when she reached the courtyard she was arrested for treason. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst enraptured by the young pianist and rising star, Serge Prokofiev, during a courtship in Brooklyn, then abandoned by him in Moscow, Lina survived one of the darkest periods in Soviet history – enduring eight years in the Gulag after she received that fateful telephone call. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnfolding with the intrigue of a spy novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev\u003c\/i\u003e traces the largely untold story of a remarkable woman who gave up her career, her country and her freedom for the brilliant man she married.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56223673090421,"sku":"9780099581789","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099581789_50ff7647-9b70-4bd0-ad2e-ec3ea15a0ec2.jpg?v=1786011308"},{"product_id":"9780520304437","title":"Mirror in the Sky – The Life and Music of Stevie Nicks","description":"A stunning musical biography of Stevie Nicks that paints a portrait of an artist, not a caricature of a superstar.    Reflective and expansive, Mirror in the Sky situates Stevie Nicks as one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century.    This biography from distinguished music historian Simon Morrison examines Nicks as a singer and songwriter before and beyond her career with Fleetwood Mac, from the Arizona landscape of her childhood to the strobe-lit Night of 1000 Stevies celebrations.    The book uniquely: Analyzes Nicks's craft—the grain of her voice, the poetry of her lyrics, the melodic and harmonic syntax of her songs.   Identifies the American folk and country influences on her musical imagination that place her within a distinctly American tradition of women songwriters.   Draws from oral histories and surprising archival discoveries to connect Nicks's story to those of California's above- and underground music industries, innovations in recording technology, and gendered restrictions.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56291525788021,"sku":"9780520304437","price":21.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780520304437_9359d05f-4fc0-4ec1-aab5-7d96e26adad9.jpg?v=1786013437"},{"product_id":"9780300192100","title":"Tchaikovsky`s Empire – A New Life of Russia`s Greatest Composer","description":"A thrilling new biography of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky—composer of some of the world’s most popular orchestral and theatrical music“A lively, argumentative and thoughtful reflection on one of the 19th century’s most important musical figures.”—Michael O’Donnell, Wall Street JournalTchaikovsky is famous for all the wrong reasons. Portrayed as a hopeless romantic, a suffering melancholic, or a morbid obsessive, the Tchaikovsky we think we know is a shadow of the fascinating reality. It is all too easy to forget that he composed an empire’s worth of music, and navigated the imperial Russian court to great advantage.   In this iconoclastic biography, celebrated author Simon Morrison re-creates Tchaikovsky’s complex world. His life and art were framed by Russian national ambition, and his work was the emanation of an imperial subject: kaleidoscopic, capacious, cosmopolitan, decentred.   Morrison reexamines the relationship between Tchaikovsky’s music, personal life, and politics; his support of Tsars Alexander II and III; and his engagement with the cultures of the imperial margins, in Ukraine, Poland, and the Caucasus. Tchaikovsky’s Empire unsettles everything we thought we knew—and gives us a vivid new appreciation of Russia’s most popular composer.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685772370293,"sku":"9780300284317","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56311678042485,"sku":"9780300192100","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780300284317_6cd95404-cfa2-488c-bfa2-8ed42205eac5.jpg?v=1792598953"},{"product_id":"9781847926524","title":"A Kingdom and a Village","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city whose rich past offers crucial insight into contemporary global politics\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Monumental' SUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Brilliant' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A marvellous book' HELEN RAPPAPORT, author of Four Sisters\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Every page pulses with individual stories and historical insights' MARK GALEOTTI, author of A Short History of RussiaMoscow stands at the centre of a nation comprising eleven percent of the globe’s landmass, eleven time zones and nearly one hundred and fifty million people, some thirteen million of whom live in the capital.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Kingdom and a Village vividly brings to life Russia’s heart and soul, tracing its transformation from a ‘big village’ into a metropolis of vast geopolitical import. It is a stranger-than-fiction arc. The last century alone has featured invasions and battles, the destruction and reconstruction of sacred landmarks, and the collapse of the Soviet republic – not to mention the rise of an authoritarian leader who is a keen student of Russian history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMorrison reaches back to the city’s founding as a fortress on a river nearly a millennium ago. In the following centuries, any number of external forces – from Tatar Mongols and Swedes to Napoleon and Hitler – set their sights on Moscow, bolstering its self-conception as a glittering prize and site of perpetual defence and resurrection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnderstanding Moscow not only unlocks the spellbinding mysteries of Russia’s past, but also the grim logic of its present. A Kingdom and a Village is an essential guide to a people and a nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Magisterial … gripping’ BEN RHODES, author of The World As It Is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A mesmerising tale of how Moscow came to be’ JILL DOUGHERTY, author of My Russia ‘Morrison is the perfect biographer of Moscow’ SHAUN WALKER, author of The Illegals\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56369336385909,"sku":"9781847926524","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682730942837,"sku":"9781529113983","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781847926524_67f7ff6e-773e-4bc5-be04-c24b2f2560f7.jpg?v=1792511609"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-simon-morrison.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}