Mr Nice: An Autobiography - Hardcover

Howard, Marks

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0436203057 ISBN 13: 9780436203053

Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 1996

Synopsis

Howard Marks began his career by dealing small amounts of hashish at Oxford. By 1980 had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines and owned 25 companies trading drugs throughout the world. Finally caught, sentenced to 25 years in prison and released after seven, this is his story.

About this title

Review:

What an extraordinary fellow Howard Marks is. His autobiography takes him from his South Wales childhood and Oxford University education through his life dealing marijuana and the enormous mythology that accrued around what the tabloids called "the English Toff Drugs King of the World". This book is called Mr Nice after one of the many aliases Marks's life as a merchant of pot obliged him to assume, but it describes him perfectly too: the epitome of British niceness, the nicest international criminal you could hope to meet. It's not hard to see why this has become a cult book--Marks is a brilliant version of a mate down the pub, telling you the gobsmacking stories of his many adventured life. The writing is direct and the narrative will detain you as comprehensively as Marks himself was detained for seven years at Terre Haut Penitentiary, Indiana. He was released the same day as Mike Tyson. "I had," he observes mildly, "been continuously in prison for the last six-and-a-half years for transporting beneficial herbs from one place to another, while he had done three years for rape." Truly there is no justice; but there are eye-popping adventures, hilarious touches and a thorough-going wisdom in this excellent book. --Adam Roberts

Review:

"Frequently hilarious, occasionally sad, and often surreal" (GQ)

"A man who makes Peter Pan look like a geriatric with sleeping sickness" (Loaded)

"A folk legend... Howard Marks has huge charisma. He sounds like Richard Burton and looks like a Rolling Stone" (Daily Mail)

"A racy yarn with plenty of globe trotting colour" (Christopher Hirst The Independent)

"Marks weaves a fascinating story spiced with brilliant detail, far stronger than fiction" (FHM Magazine)

About this edition

• Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0436203057
• ISBN 13: 9780436203053
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 466