David Henry is a screenwriter, and his brother Joe Henry is a songwriter/singer as well as a music producer. Furious Cool is their first book. They are also at work on a screenplay based on Pryor's life and career.
"Richard Pryor was chain lightning to everything around him. He
shocked the world through with human electricity. He blew all our
comfortable balance to hell. And Furious Cool captures it
brilliantly. Dave and Joe Henry have done an incredible job
allowing us to experience 'the only Richard you could possibly be
talking about.' Part memoir, part biography, part poem, part
history, part ballad, it manages to sing a wake song for an
incredible American. If Richard's comedy was theft-proof, his
genius was always shared. This is a book worth savoring." --Colum
McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin
"An addictively readable study of the path of this outsized talent
. . . [A] blazing entertainment history to authoritative meditation
on culture." --Esquire
"The brothers David and Joe Henry--a screenwriter and
songwriter--note early in this book, 'At times, both of us have
wondered whether Richard Pryor was truly ours to approach.' After
deciding they felt 'not a racial but a human kinship' to Pryor,
they forged ahead, and we should be glad they did . . . Loving but
clear-eyed, the book conveys how brilliant and maddening Pryor
could be." --The New York Times
"The flames of genius burn bright and all too often too briefly.
Incendiary, foulmouthed comic icon Richard Pryor changed the face
of comedy and possessed, as biographers David and Joe Henry put it,
a Furious Cool." --Vanity Fair
"A sleek, highly literate biography that places the comic in the
pop-cultural context of his times." --Bloomberg News
"Furious Cool is a fabulous history, alive with fascinating
characters both reacting to and creating world-changing events; it
is a study of the seismic cultural shifts of the second half of the
twentieth century, when everything we knew about music, literature,
television, theater, and yes, comedy, was turned upside down and
sideways, blowing our minds and resetting all expectations; it is a
documentary of epic proportions, based as it is upon mountains of
research (all of it refined, sifted, and clarified); it is a love
song and a dirge and silly ditty and a symphony of every emotion .
. . Every person on the planet has to find his or her way to the
truth of life's unfairness, beauty, sadness, opportunities and
limits. That I could get myself part way there riding on waves of
laughter was a wonderful gift, and it was Pryor's gift. Furious
Cool reminds me of his present, and his presence, and for this, I
give thanks to the Henry brothers." --The Huffington Post
"It would be enough if Furious Cool was a profile of Pryor's
uncanny talents, psychic turmoil, and ungovernable behavior, but
it's also a fascinating history of black comedy . . . Furious Cool
captures Pryor's frenetic routines and stage presence on the page .
. . The inextricable legacy of Richard Pryor--his boldness,
inventiveness, candor, and empathy--lives on." --Los Angeles
Magazine
"A beautifully written account of the troubled life of a manic
genius." --Booklist, starred review
"Richard Pryor was the most free black man of the 20th century. He
also was a comic genius. This book gives the definitive reasons why
he was so free and so sublime." --Dr. Cornel West
"Richard Pryor lives again in the pages of Furious Cool by David
and Joe Henry. With heart and grace and witnessing, they show us
how and why this comic and tragic genius changed the culture of
this country when he could not change himself. You may be meeting
or rediscovering Pryor, but he's likely to change you, too."
--Gloria Steinem
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
