Ian Hamilton

In 2001, the professional wrestling scene in the western world changed almost overnight. From three major promotions at the start of the year, just one remained by the start of April, ending more than a decade of competition. But success breeds complacency, and the five years since World Wrestling Entertainment stood triumphant over its rivals has seen unprecedented shifts in wrestling. Charting the highs and lows of the business in that time, Wrestling's Sinking Ship offers a unique look at the fall and rise of sports entertainment's most controversial characters. From necrophilia to exploitation, nostalgia to racism...oh, and don't forget that fake gay wedding!

'An excellent book ... sharp and sympathetic' - Sunday Times 'Why doesn't Matthew Arnold enjoy a higher reputation today? He wrote some of the most beautiful poetry of the Victorian period ... yet he distrusted his own poetic genius and effectively stifled it after its early blossoming, devoting his maturity instead to writing worthy but unexciting prose criticism. The reasons why he did this, and the extraordinary tension in the poetry he did write between outbursts of passion and fierce repression, are excellently handled in Ian Hamilton's critical biography.' - Adam Roberts As a youth, Matthew Arnold was an impassioned lyric poet, deeply at odds with his times. In his later years, he turned himself to more "purposeful" prose composition and became a social prophet and literary critic. This biography addresses some of the mysteries surrounding Arnold's life, and attempts to animate certain key moments, or turning points, in Arnold's passage from the poetic life to the prose of his later years.

This collection of essays focuses on Salman Rushdie, Stephen Spender, R. S. Thomas, Elisabeth Thomas, Elisabeth Bishop and many others. They take biography as their starting point, but their final aim is to iluminate the writer's work. Not limited simply to literary subjects, the book also includes essays on football, money, travel and the rigours of the literary life.