As a Northern Ballard and the father of 'Yorkshire noir', David Peace offers the twenty-first-century reader unique novelized histories of events we think we know well. This new study provides a comprehensive introduction to the author and an overview of the debates surrounding his work to date. Approaching Peace in the context of a British social realist tradition, Katy Shaw presents and examines a new chronology of his work, moving from the Ripper and the UK miners' strike to Leeds United and twentieth-century Tokyo. Offering the first analysis of adaptations of Peace's writings for the screen and stage, and featuring an exclusive interview with the author reflecting on two decades of writing, this book is a must-read for students, critics and fans alike.