Description

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History is written by the winners. It's the faithful servants, the insiders, the ones who stick around, who can adapt to almost any condition that get to write the official histories. They publish the memoirs, park in the directors' spots, erect the statues, form the new governments, wipe out the pockets of resistance, recruit the new starters, set the agendas, talk on the documentaries and retrospectives. Yet theirs - the official version - is never the whole story. The quitter's tale offers a far more compelling, and often a more honest version of history.

The Last Goodbye, Matt Potter collects the pithiest, angriest, most hilarious messages of resignation throughout history, including those whose exits were a springboard to eventual success, such as Steve Jobs, George Orwell and Charlie Sheen.It's full of self-deception, bloody knives, betrayal, honour, disgrace, disgust, thwarted ambition and shattered hopes, and sometimes a wicked sting in the tail . . .

About the Author

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Matt Potter is an author, journalist, broadcaster and editor whose work has taken him from Sony awards and the BBC to the Daily Telegraph, and from Afghanistan to the stage of Madison Square Garden. His 2011 book Outlaws Inc has been published in 4 different languages and more than 17 countries, and won praise from places as diverse as The Literary Review, BBC5Live, the Washington Post, Bizarre magazine and Fox News. He has also written numerous books for the BBC. For almost two decades, he has ghostwritten for world leaders, Hollywood actors, CEOs and rock stars.
Since 1987, he has also written parting shots on demand - as far as he knows, he is the world's only resignation ventriloquist. This book is the fruit of a professional journey and a private obsession.

Praise For…

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Celebrates the art of the elegant - or explosive - resignation—The Week

Just magnificent - an alternate history of our time—Monocle

The sort of book that makes you think, long after you've put it down—Reverend Richard Coles, BBC Saturday Live

Will leave you slightly applauding or, maybe, looking to the door yourself—Metro

A marvellous idea ... Matt Potter has collected some real beauties—Independent

[The resignation letters] have a compelling intensity, overlooked until Matt Potter spotted the human drama in even the most understated examples—The Glasgow Herald

A cracking read—Daily Politics

A fascinating and profound look at how quitters shape history—The Current

A hilarious history of the resignation letter... Potter examines our fascination with parting shots—Telegraph

Will make you want to quit your job immediately—Buzzfeed