Woody Allen: A Biography by John Baxter (HarperCollins Entertainment, £8.99 in UK)

The picture which emerges in Baxter's unflattering but scrupulously fair biography is of a man who jealously guards his power and his privacy, who trades on the helpless nebbish persona of the characters he plays in his films, but who is ruthless in getting what he wants, both professionally and personally: the whole bizarre Soon-Yi Previn episode is described here with cool even-handedness. Allen is hardly the first film-maker to be accused of egomania - it could be argued that it's an essential trait - but the sheer coldness of his behaviour towards former friends and colleagues, and his thinly-disguised contempt for his public, may shock some who think they know the man from his movies.