Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore by Albert Mudrian has been out in the U.S. since about 2003.  If you are a true fan of either DM or Grind then hopefully you have read it.  If not, go get it and learn your history.  I am pretty well versed in death metal, but there were still some things I did not know.  While Grind had to grow on me, I found its evolution pretty interesting and this book made me even more interested in it.  I just recently got it out again and am reading it for the fourth time, as it is very entertaining and reminds me of the days when these bands first came out. 

This music was so different and created such extreme reactions in people that people in the industry and record execs at the time did not know how to handle it.  This book also contains a lot of cool pictures.  A variation on the infamous Obituary "hanging"  photo is included, which is probably the most killer promo pic of all time.  Highlights for me include; various Carcass members discussing the making of their controversial Swansong album, the origin of the blast beat, and Glenn Benton's way of introducing Deicide's, then known as Amon, demo to Roadrunner.  The book is now being released in Spanish with a way cooler cover than the English version, so go pick it up and learn something.