Kill 'em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul - James McBride

James McBride's Kill 'Em and Leave offers a nuanced portrait of the musical and cultural icon, James Brown, from the people who knew him best; McBride intertwines the stories of everyone from Brown's first wife in Augusta to the Rev. Al Sharpton with his own trials in uncovering the story behind the Godfather of Soul. The result is a humanist, clear-eyed examination of the musician, the man, and his decade-long estate case that penetrates the nation's unhealed racial and economic wounds. A vivid, blunt, and psychologically complex story of an oft-misunderstood man and his time, richer than any movie could portray.