{"product_id":"difficult-men","title":"Difficult Men","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1990s and early 2000s, a wave of TV shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television's inventiveness, emotional resonance and ambition. Shows such as \u003ci\u003eThe Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield \u003c\/i\u003etackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence and existential boredom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-show runner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and \"difficult\" as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDifficult Men \u003c\/i\u003efeatures extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase and James Gandolfini (\u003ci\u003eThe Sopranos\u003c\/i\u003e), David Simon, Dominic West and Ed Burns (\u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e), Vince Gilligan (\u003ci\u003eBreaking Bad),\u003c\/i\u003e Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (\u003ci\u003eMad Men\u003c\/i\u003e), David Milch (\u003ci\u003eNYPD Blue, Deadwood\u003c\/i\u003e) and Alan Ball (\u003ci\u003eSix Feet Under\u003c\/i\u003e), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives and actors. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favourite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how TV has emerged from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Brett Martin is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Supranos: The Book(2007). \u003c\/i\u003eHis work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The New Yorker, Food and Wine \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eVanity Fair. Difficult Men \u003c\/i\u003eis an insightful history of popular US TV drama which traces the emergence of shows such as \u003ci\u003eThe Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e, and explores their engagement with important social issues around love, sexuality, race and violence.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Faber \u0026 Faber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54243736650072,"sku":"9780571303809","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780571303809_36a19ba4-9488-45b5-aef0-3cbb002abeee.jpg?v=1778589962","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/difficult-men","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}