I & I: The Natural Mystics

By the end, the three central characters, the force that they became together and the forces that drove them apart… are more vividly portrayed than in any previous biography. What’s more, Grant’s clear, concise book, as well as revealing the Wailers in the light of their own culture, helps us to see into the heart of Jamaica itself, through the lives of three of its sons * Daily Telegraph *Grant has pulled off a remarkable feat in the telling of their individual stories… An absorbing read that sheds new light on the famous triumvirate – Linton Kwesi Johnson * Wasafiri *The main merit of this perceptive work is that, by not making Marley its focus, it gets closer to the truth about him than most other biographers… Colin Grant has composed a highly evocative and original account of a misunderstood group, and the misunderstood man at its core * Literary Review *Provides a lively introduction to the life and times of the Wailers and, incidentally, to the neo-African religions and animist cults of beautiful, bedevilled Jamaica * Sunday Times *In Grant’s hands life in Trench Town in the 1960’s is energetic and theatrical, rich in comedy and tragic irony… Grant’s original and stylish second book… This brilliant book is not just about Jamaica, but about ourselves, no longer the country of The King’s Speech but a post-imperial nation many of whose citizens have a buried history. Read it also for Grant’s acute descriptions of its characters * Guardian *One of the few books to get to grips with the social, cultural, political and religious forces which drove the trio… He has you smell the open sewers of Trench Town, and feel its deprivation… Joyfully literate and philosophically penetrating * Mojo *Grant has approached a well worn topic in a lively and different way… Ever alert to Jamaica’s adage that “there is no such thing as facts, only versions,” he gives space to the ambiguities surrounding the Wailers’ story without forcing conclusions, which bestows a rich sense of the mix of truth and fiction constantly at play in Jamaica… The bigger picture is painted in rewardingly colourful, often revelatory detail * Metro *The myth-making that surrounds the memory of Bob Marley has largely obscured the contribution of his fellow Wailers, Neville “Bunny” Livingston (later Bunny Wailer) and Peter Tosh. I and I restores these two to their rightful position * New Statesman *Grant…is skilled at peeling away layers of history * Observer *There are illuminating details and fresh revelations * Independent *

Colin Grant is an author, historian and critic. He has written acclaimed biographies of the Wailers and of Marcus Garvey. Bageye at the Wheel, his memoir of growing up in a Caribbean family in 1970s Luton, was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize. His history of epilepsy, A Smell of Burning, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Homecoming- Voices of the Windrush Generation, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. His most recent book, I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be was a New Statesman Book of the Year. He is director of WritersMosaic, a division of the RLF, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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