Martin Amis' life could itself provide the formula for an enthralling work of fiction. Son of one of the most popular and best-loved novelists of the post-war era, he has forged a groundbreaking manner of writing that owes nothing to the style of his father, nor indeed to anyone else. He relished and recorded the bizarre, turbulent atmosphere of Britain and America during the 1970s and 80s, arguably the transformative period of the late twentieth century.

No other contemporary writer has proved so magnetic for the popular press: he has, despite himself, achieved celebrity status. Of late, his reputation as a novelist has been matched by his outspoken, challenging writing on contemporary global politics, and he has earned the status as the Orwell of the early twenty-first century. Moreover, this fascinating biography discloses the autobiographical thread that runs through Amis' books. Richard Bradford has talked with Amis at length, questioned him on his childhood, his private history, his opinions, and the inspiration for his fiction, and these exchanges are supplemented by interviews with a large number of his friends and fellow writers.