Genius And Heroin: The Illustrated Catalogue of Creativity, Obsession, a nd Reckless Abandon Through the Ages

(Paperback)

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Description

From the dawn of civilisation there has always been a fine line between creativity and self-destruction. An inherent compulsiveness is often required in art to master a level of original thought and superlative skill. It requires everything, some believe, even one's life. "Genius and Heroin" chronicles the lives of the famously talented in all fields who all entwined their genius with one of the many paths toward self-ruin. Whether their downfalls were from opiates, alcohol, pills, absinthe, or the slow-motion suicide of obsession, the indispensable reference to the untidy and self-destructive lives of our greatest artists and thinkers.In this one-of-a-kind reference work, the age-old question - did genius create their own torment, or was it their torment that created their genius - is finally answered. Through luridly compelling portraits, the rise and fall of those who made a mark on history and culture are revealed, for as Samuel Johnson said, "A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself."

Reviews

"Chockablock with faces, figures, and facts Michael Largo's Genius and Heroin makes for mad good reading on the divinely inspired, hopelessly self-destructive class. Poe, Piaf, Warhol anyone" -- Elle

"Meticulous, fascinating, and often intriguingly bizarre . . . I am full of admiration for his achievement--just the ideal book for bathroom reading." -- Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman

Author Bio

Michael Largo is the author of The Big, Bad Book of Beasts; Gods Lunatics; Genius and Heroin; The Portable Obituary; the Bram Stoker Award-winning Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die; and three novels. He is the former editor of New York Poetry and the researcher/archivist for the film company Allied Artists. He and his family live in Florida with their dog, two turtles, a parrot, two canaries, and a tank of fish.