This book came out at the end of last year. I bought it around New Years and it was already discounted. I think I got mine for $12.00

The book itself is horribly edited. Obvious spelling errors like "The Ht and Run Tour."

As far as substance, I don't think anything in there is too controversial. The author acts a little to authoritative about his subject and it's obvious he has pieced together accounts of Prince's career from other sources instead of performing intensive investigative reporting.

It's worth it just for the pictures though. A lot of great pictures, and some nice fold out picture collections.

Also, there's a lot of "side stories" where the author will dedicate a page to The Time, or Vanity 6, for example.

Again, it really doesn't break any new ground on the "Prince Story" but, it's a good starting place, and again, the pics are good.
[Edited 5/12/09 13:49pm]

I really like this book. It is what it set out to be - a fair, up-to-date, non-biased look at Prince history. It's not kiss-ass, and it's not hyper critical. The layout invites browsing, and the text and graphics are on par with most coffee-table books. The cover is garishly covered in purple velvet. It's priced at the cost of a hand-full of magazines, so you can get it on the cheap. I recommend it highly, for what that's worth.

It's titled Prince: Life And Times (hardcover) in the US and will tentatively be released in Europe as Prince Chronicles (softcover). There doesn't seem to be a release date anymore, though. http://www.amazon.co.uk/P...1906002185

AU and UK folks might try eBay and get the US hardcover copy.