Paul Harries

Slipknot, the instantly-recognisable heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa, shot to fame after the release of their first album in 1999, grabbing the attention of millions of adoring fans, and some not-so-adoring conservative commentators. From the first, Paul Harries photographed them on stage, backstage and through artistic eyes, and Dysfunctional Family Portraits is a fascinatingly creative look at this distinctive band. The name Dysfunctional Family Portraits perfectly sums up the band, a dysfunctional melee of chaos and aggressive music, while the humans behind the monstrous masks remained truly close, and their camaraderie comes across in these intimate photographic portraits. The energy and chaos of their live shows is particularly well-captured by Harries' brilliant shots, showing them in their natural habitat: that of loud, sweaty, energetic and adrenaline-fuelled music. Throughout Dysfunctional Family Portraits, Paul Harries guides the reader on a journey from Slipknot's beginnings with their truly terrifying masks and red boiler suits, through their changing looks and their artistic developments. As Paul Harries says, being a rock photographer is not an easy task. You have to be able to capture personality and the essence of a musical style in a visual medium. But photographing Slipknot is a whole new endeavour, capturing masked madmen straight out of a horror film while maintaining order among the chaos must have been difficult, but the brilliance of this book is testament to his ability as a photographer. Featuring full colour photographs of Slipknot throughout their journey as a band, you will get to see exclusive backstage antics, dynamic shots of their legendary live shows, as well as hundreds of other behind-the-scenes pictures and words from Harries and members of the band. Perfect for a Slipknot fan, but also ideal for anyone interested in modern heavy metal music or even darkly comic theatrics. A ridiculously entertaining band, the vibrant photographs in Dysfunctional Family Portraits are full of life and full of the energy that Slipknot, as a band, have transmitted through their music.

Relive the greatest moments in the last 40 years of hardcore, punk, and metal with this incredible book by Kerrang!, alternative music’s most trusted publication. Celebrate 40 years of Kerrang! with this year-by-year review of the greatest artists and moments in metal and alternative music. Kerrang! has an unparalleled reputation as one of the world's best-loved rock-focused publications. It continues to be at the forefront of alternative music, flying the flag for metal, hardcore, punk, and beyond, introducing millions to their new favorite bands. Anyone who’s anyone in the metal scene has featured Kerrang’s hallowed pages and this unique book chronicles these appearances. If it happened in metal, Kerrang! covered it, as confirmed in this year-by-year survey of alternative music. By highlighting the heaviest albums, the most outlandish stars, the rowdiest mosh pits and the most incredible moments in rock history, fans are going to love it

Life is at once wonderful and appalling, beautiful and horrific. Although we can all give meaning to our lives by trying to live well, is there some given meaning to be discovered? Science cannot answer this question, and philosophical arguments leave the issue open. The monotheistic religions claim that the meaning has been revealed to us, and Christians see this is above all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Described by Rowan Williams as ‘that rarity, a Christian public intellectual’, Richard Harries considers the Christian claim in the context of an in-depth discussion of the nature of evil and how this is to be reconciled with a just and loving God. Drawing on a wide range of modern literature, he argues that belief in the resurrection and hope in the face of death is fundamental to faith, and suggests that while there is no final intellectual answer to the problem of evil, we must all, believer and nonbeliever alike, protest against the world and seek to change it, rather than accept it as it is.

W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, William Golding, Elizabeth Jennings, C. S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, Stevie Smith . . . These are some of the great poets and novelists whose struggles with faith find expression in their works, and who demonstrate the fascinatingly different forms that faith can take in different times and places. Richard Harries considers the work of twenty of these writers, painting vivid pictures of their lives and times. He also provides numerous critically sympathetic insights into the spiritual dimension of their writings. The result is a book for readers of all religious persuasions, especially those who are fascinated by the ways in which faith is refracted through the lens of great poetry and fiction. Also by Richard Harries: The Beauty and the Horror (SPCK, 2016) ‘A major new defence of Christianity that does not flinch from asking difficult questions about the kind of God who could have created our world.’ The Bookseller ‘A heartening book, confronting the hardest questions with wide knowledge and deep wisdom.’ John Carey, Chief Literary Reviewer, Sunday Times ‘An eloquent, honest and engaging case for Christian faith.’ The Tablet ‘A deeply interesting book.’ Mary Warnock

This volume brings together an international team of scholars to debate Cicero's role in the narrative of Roman law in the late Republic - a role that has been minimised or overlooked in previous scholarship. This reflects current research that opens a larger and more complex debate about the nature of law and of the legal profession in the last century of the Roman Republic.