Spike Lee: That's My Story and I'm Sticking to it (Faber)

Director Spike Lee has been one of the most outspoken and controversial figures in America for nearly 20 years. From his debut feature, She's Gotta Have It to the post 9/11 drama 25th Hour, Lee has been at the forefront of the business and this book reads like a who's who of independent filmmaking - Lee was a classmate of director Jim Jarmusch and the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ernest Dickinson at New York University and came to prominence as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne and Samuel L. Jackson were achieving success.

As Lee recounts how each of his films were made, it's clear from the beginning that he had a very definite idea of the kind of filmmaker he wanted to be and the stories he wanted to tell. Early on, he set up his own production company, 40 Acres and A Mule, not in glamorous Manhattan but in his beloved Brooklyn - and this was way before gentrification. He was keen to give people who wanted to work in the industry a helping hand, both in front of and behind the camera: he cast actor Giancarlo Esposito in School Daze and gave Halle Berry her first big break in Jungle Fever, while Dickinson worked on Lee's student film.

After the success of his debut feature, She's Gotta Have It, Lee was catapulted into the limelight, even appearing on the front cover of Time magazine. Eddie Murphy, hot from the success of Beverley Hills Cop, called Lee and suggested working together - Lee apparently told the comedian where to go. Also, an executive from a studio called Lee and asked him to fly to Los Angeles for a meeting. His response? "I didn't call you, you called me. I don't know who you are. If you want to meet me, you get on a plane and fly here [New York] and I will meet you in Brooklyn." It's hard to imagine many other emerging filmmakers being so unaccommodating.