About the Author

Paul Gorman is a writer whose work has appeared in many of the world's leading publications. Gorman's previous books include The Story Of The Face: The Magazine That Changed Culture (2017), Derek Boshier: Rethink/Re-entry (ed. 2105), Mr Freedom: Tommy Roberts - British Design Hero (2012), Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles (2008), Straight with Boy George (2005), Nine Lives with Goldie (2002) and The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion (2001).Gorman first met Malcolm McLaren - who contributed the foreword to The Look - in 1975 and was last in contact with him a few weeks before his death in 2010. Gorman subsequently organized exhibitions and events about McLaren, including The Sound Of Fashion & The Look Of Music in Copenhagen and Art Into Pop: Let It Rock in Grenoble (both with Young Kim, 2015), Eyes For Blowing Up Bridges: Joining The Dots From The Situationist International To Malcolm McLaren in Southampton (with David Thorp, 2015) and Be Reasonable Demand The Impossible in London (with Caz Facey, 2015).

Reviews

I couldn't put this book down. Malcolm inspired us to make art out of our boredom and anger. He set us free
*Bobby G (Primal Scream)*

Exhaustive . . . compelling
*Observer*

Excellent . . . With this book, Gorman convincingly moves away from the ossified image of McLaren as a great rock'n'roll
swindler, a morally bankrupt punk Mephistopheles, and closer towards his art-school roots, his love of ideas. Tiresome, unpleasant, even cruel - he was, this book underlines, never boring
*Sunday Times*

The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren should be required reading in art schools (and on film and creative writing courses too): it is a reminder that revolutions don't arise from icy perfection, only from a habit of getting things wrong
*Times Literary Supplement*

Exhaustive, definitive . . . epic
*The Times*

McLaren finally gets the sensitively balanced biography he deserves . . . Gorman serves him well, with frequently jaw-dropping forensic eloquence
*Classic Rock*

An inspirationally detailed new biography
*Q magazine*

A mesmerising journey, from youthful idealism to shape-shifting, hit-and-miss adulthood
*The i*

An incredible new biography of this provocative figure, perfectly encapsulating McLaren's ability to identify emerging trends and position or inveigle himself in at exactly the right moment
*Financial Times*

Gobsmacker of a biography
*Telegraph*

Sex Pistols Svengali colourfully - and substantially - brought to life
*Mojo*

Fascinating new insights into the public achievements and private life of this cultural icon and architect of punk . . . [Gorman] is such a consummate narrator that you are gripped throughout the entire book . . . an intriguing and insightful read
*Louder Than War*

A far reaching psychological unravelling of one of the most fascinating British men of his era . . . Gorman's biography is a gorgeous work, filled with the kind of startling details fiction wouldn't dare invent . . . It is a book of great substance, depth and acuity, drawn with a sympathetic yet never overly reverential eye to the most brilliant pop cultural curator of them all
*Love magazine*

Gorman has an encyclopaedic knowledge of how music has intersected with style and design over the last 50 years . . . Gorman's book becomes most thrilling when it explores McLaren's less familiar post-punk work
*Civilian Global*

Gorman dissects McLaren's subsequent adventures in hip-hop, detourned classical music and cinema in great detail
*Uncut*

Fascinating new tome
*Daily Mail*

A rounded portrait of this oft-misunderstood eccentric . . . without a hint of hagiography, the book mounts a strong case for
McLaren's significance and enduring influence
*Big Issue*

Neither hagiography nor hatchet job, the book is curious, rigorous and . . . rarely dull
*Guardian*

A magnum opus on the often overlooked and much-maligned maverick . . . a hectic and inspiring tale where the only constant is that of style
*Vogue*

Fascinating and detailed . . . a brave biography of an extraordinary, quasi-shamanistic maverick
*Morning Star*

McLaren gets the exhaustively forensic, sensitively balanced biography he's long deserved . . . vivid and thorough account . . . fascinating, everything recounted with nonjudgmental eloquence and
impeccable research. A major work
*Record Collector*

Thorough and engaging
*Ugly Things magazine*

Excellent and compelling
*Please Kill Me*

Compulsively readable
*Bad Feeling*

Beautifully written . . . history will judge Paul Gorman's biography of McLaren to be one of the very best
*The Crack*

Insanely detailed . . . fascinating
*London Review of Books*