This is a long awaited memoir from leading military publisher Leo Cooper. Yorkshire born, he was educated at Radley and by National Service in Kenya, before returning to London to join the publishing firm Longmans. He later worked for Andre Deutsch and Hamish Hamilton, who both decided that he was unemployable, a decision with which he thoroughly concurred. They both sacked him. There was only one thing to do and that was 'if you can't join them, beat them' and this was what Leo did.

Aided and abetted by business partner Tom Hartman, who played Sancho Panzer [sic] to his Don Quixote, the imprint immediately attracted a number of distinguished authors. Many others followed. This book is a vivid account of the efforts made to keep a small publishing company going whilst being permanently short of capital and experience. Readers will very quickly discover that this is a very unusual book for indeed Leo Cooper himself is a somewhat unusual man.