Daisy Rockwell’s The Little Book of Terror

 Available February 1st, 2012!

Order The Little Book of Terror Now!

Daisy Rockwell‘s painting and writing have been thrilling fans for the better part of a decade: her cutting images of writers, politicians, intellectuals and, occasionally, the mistress of Vladimir Putin, say more within the margins of a canvas than The New York Times Op-Ed section on any given day.

Her essays and insightful commentary on Chapati Mystery under the pseudonym Lapata, and in various print publications, have brought her wide acclaim.

Available on February 1, 2012, Rockwell’s The Little Book of Terror is a treasure that defies easy classification: more than a collection of paintings, more than a compilation of piquant, compelling essays, it can be thought of as a secular missal, offering a new liturgy for observing the Rite of The Contrary.

The Little Book of Terror is a literary missile, as well—Rockwell’s searing images and carefully-crafted prose aim directly at the bloated heart of Imperial pretension. On impact, Rockwell’s work makes rubble of propaganda passing as conventional wisdom, leaving in its place a new vista from which to consider the “Global War on Terror” and its complicated combatants.

For Rockwell’s legions of readers and admirers, The Little Book of Terror is a blast of a different kind: a stirring read, a poignant comment, and a collection of sights not soon forgotten. Readers holding advance copies are raving:

Booker Prize nominee Mohammed Hanif says,

The Little Book of Terror is profound, sometimes profane, but always practical. Th is book takes terror out of terrorism and replaces it with exuberant little details that look stunning on the page.

New Yorker contributor and author of Open City, Teju Cole, tells us:

The Little Book of Terror is a marvelous, ethical, and funny book. It is deceptively modest, and a much-needed reminder that however much we might wish it, true justice is never available on the cheap.

World renowned artist Kanishka Raja offers us this praise:

These lurid paintings will fool you at first look: all ironic pose and technicolor confection. Look again though and look hard: they’re like little smart bombs of empathy; deployed—with loving touch and wry humor—expressly to combat the monochromatic fog of stereotype and ignorance.

Rockwell has exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, North Adams, Massachusetts and White River Junction, Vermont. She grew up in a family of artists in western Massachusetts, some whose work adorns the surfaces of chinaware and brightens up the waiting rooms of dentists’ offices, and others whose artistic output has found more select audiences.

Her first book was an academic treatise on the poet Upendranath Ashk.

Follow Rockwell on Twitter @shreedaisy.