Details
Paperback: 807 pages
Publisher: Warner Books; Reprint edition (January 1, 1991)
Language: English
ISBN: 0446391387
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.1 x 2.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.25 pounds



Reviews

warhol's thoughts in the disco & business eras
Reviewer: Clinton S. Freeman "nyc boy" (manhattan 10021)
the Andy Warhol Diaries. 900 pages. 1976-1987. the closest look ever at warhol's actual thought processes, opinions & speech pattern. Not the shy,. fumbling public affectation of decades of interviews. Actual day to day diary entries dictated by andy of the last 12 years of his life. backdrop: the 70s disco/studio 54 era; then the 80s art/business explosion & various losses in andy's personal life. Anyone who lived through these years, particularly in nyc and /or the nightlife and art worlds, will find so many events they recall in their memory. Warhol'd depictions of friends & various celebrities are candid, frank, brutal, humorous. This is the closest you will ever get to Andy's real feelings thoughts tone & expression. Its a bit of a committment- it must be read chronologically, it took me just over a month to read all 900 pages. but it was vastly rewarding & the insight into the real warhol is priceless; also if you were alive in this time you will reflect upon your own journey during 1976-1987. the portraits of just halston, bianca jagger & basquiat drawn alone are worth the 900 pages. rating: A

Just Read It Again!,
Reviewer: Ingrid Larson "Loves Romance Writing" (Jacksonville, Florida)
I got this book as a gift, right after it was published in the late eighties. Since then, I've read & re-read it more times then I can count. It's just as much fun on the umpteeth read as it was on the first.

The entire Mick-Jerry-Bianca-Halston-Studio 54 entries are hilarious. It wouldn't bother me a bit if his diary was published in its entirety someday. I'd read all of the doggone 20,000 pages!

It was shocking when Andy died unexpectedly in 1987. Every time I read the book, it's like a clock ticking in my head as time, unbeknownst to him, runs out, and far too soon.

Wonderful,
Reviewer: D. Owens (Illinois)
This book is a must for fans of Andy Warhol the person. Not mysterious or glamorous, but realistic, because it's real (most of it). It reads like a slow-moving but also hectic life, sometimes his day was interesting, sometimes it was some party with "boring old people". The thing that makes this book different from any other he was involved in is that you KNOW when it ends, and you know WHY. You're living his life along side him, but unlike him, you know where it ends. Reading it with this in mind makes you look at how he spends his time much closer as you count down the years...months...days. It's kind of foreboding to think of this as you read it, but it's true, and it's a life, a life that you'll understand 100% better as you read. You'll be sad to see him go all over again. Thanks Andy.

Hip NY in the 70's and early 80's
Reviewer: BCCRAB (California)
Andy Warhol knew everybody and left these brief diary entries over a period of years that coincided with the Studio 54 era of Jagger, Capote, Halston and countless other connected NY glitterati. The book is a fascinating look into Warhol's personal reflections on his friendships and the people involved in the scene at the time. It can be basically opened at random and read with enjoyment.
Pretty cool stuff if you are interested in that period of NY cafe society.

I've Been "Glued" for Weeks!,
Reviewer: Sandy Frazier "www.sandrafrazier.com" (New York)
"Went home lonely and despondent because nobody loves me and it's Easter, and I cried." [4-17-81] When I reached that line in the diaries, I think I truly fell in love with Andy. He was a total observer of life and pierced a depth of feeling in his aloneness. He seemed to be a walking nerve and picked up every nuance of life and all the personalities surrounding him.

His observations about people were uncanny - and he was like a prophet in many ways, even at one point predicting his own death! He knew things about people that they probably didn't know about themselves.

For instance his glib comment after the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, "They're saying that the article Caroline Kennedy did on the Elvis funeral for Rolling Stone made fun of the local people, but I can understand that--Caroline's really intelligent and the people down there really were dumb. Elvis never knew there were more interesting people" [8-30-77] - honing in on exactly what killed Elvis!

Or when he mentioned Michael Jackson's penchant for young boys - and that was 1984!

His diaries are so revealing and so easy to read and he really makes us understand all the modes of the counterculture that revolved around his life - the music, the artists, the movie stars... and how self-absorbed they all were. And how caught up in drugs and drink some of them became.

Although Andy was obviously anorexic and somewhat alcoholic (he hated to drink yet it seemed he drank almost every day) he was constantly trying to improve himself and he wrestled with his physical self and all his insecurities every day of his life. Yet he was of strong mind and his beliefs were never swayed. And he wasn't afraid to make his feelings and opinions known. Yet his life was always overshadowed by his fear of death and disease. And he was insecure about his looks, yet managed to start a modeling career in his early '50s!

He was such a 'cat'! "There was a party at the Statue of Liberty, but I'd already read publicity of me going to it so I felt it was done already." [7-5-83] He invented his own language and way of communicating, which was very colourful and made every moment interesting. His diaries are a sensual feast; he lived life to its fullest and was able to describe all the flavors of the food and drink, the odors and scents of people and places, in such a way that the reader feels as though he/she is reliving it all.

What impressed me most about Andy was his great discipline and ability to admit to his own shortcomings. He got up every day and went to work like it was a nine-to-five job, went to church every Sunday, and stayed in tune with all that was going on in the world around him. If Andy were alive today, he'd love the Internet, e-mail and cell phones. For he was a man about the world, truly in love with life and all that it has to offer.

I just wished the diaries included an index

Ephemera made solid
Reviewer: Charles - Music Lover (Phoenix, AZ, USA)
I'm going to need a new copy of the Andy Warhol Diaries in a year or two. The binding on my current copy is really creased from periodic re-examinations. For me, the highpoints of this book are in the 1977 - late 1978 sections, and the early 80s (1982 - 1984). There seemed to be a constant energy in the entries in those years.

Prior to Steve Rubell's (owner of Studio 54) arrest for tax evasion, the entries were dominated by descriptions of New York City nightlife and name dropping. In 1982, there seemed to be a renaissance of social activity, albeit tempered, with a new group of regulars (Chris Makos and his boyfriend Peter, Jon Gould, etc.). AIDS was originally referred to as "gay cancer." What is striking me most in this re-reading of the Diaries is how much has been left out. There are a lot of gaps, especially when it comes to Warhol's personal relationships. For an overview of NYC's nightlife and artworld circa 1977 - early 1987, this book is essential. Social and popular culture historians will delight at Warhol's wry observations of celebrities and superstars in his immediate sphere. I remember when this book was first published, without an index. That was, in retrospect, a public relations coup. People were forced to comb through the volume to see who merited a mention.

Sadly, many of the Diary's notables came to a bad end: Andy himself died unexpectedly - and prematurely - after gall bladder surgery in February 1987. Jed Johnson died in the TWA plane crash in 1996. Steve Rubell, Jon Gould, Robert Hayes, Keith Haring, Halston, and so many others died of complications from AIDS. Jean-Michel Basquiat died from a drug overdose. Truman Capote died, relatively young, after decades of alcohol and drug abuse. Berry Berenson (Marisa Berenson's sister and one-time wife of Anthony Perkins) died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Despite the "gaps" I referred to previously, this volume is a remarkably fluid, entertaining document spanning a ten-year period. Pat Hackett did an admirable job in compiling and editing this massive tome into a readable, fascinating, and enduring pop-culture history. Warhol describes creating "time capsules," where he would throw items dating from a certain year into a box and then storing it for years before opening it again. Invariably, upon opening the time capsule, he would become transfixed in its contents. That is what this book is like at its best.

If you are at all interested in Warhol's work -- either as artist or observer -- this book is a must. Given its size and scope, this is not a book you will read from cover to cover, but, rather, one to be skimmed through, referred to again and again, and enjoyed each time you do. Warhol emerges as an immensely likable figure: funny, whimsical, shy, insecure, and very smart, despite his disingenuous protestations to the contrary.

A Priceless Insight Into The World of a Superstar Artist
Reviewer: Diane Aguilar "Lady Interference" (San Antonio, TX USA)
For centuries, the world of visual art was filled with mythical giants, people whose genius was not revealed to the world until long after said person's demise or people whose genius so overwhelmed others that no one dared get close to the figure. Thankfully, Andy Warhol was neither of those two types of artists. And the world knows this due to the IRS, a woman who originally just wanted a little excitement in her life, and a man who refused to censor himself.

Andy Warhol was a lifelong Democrat who criticized the Nixon administration, thus sparking a series of intense IRS audits. To help make these audits easier, he and his then-assistant Pat Hackett began cataloguing his daily expenses and saving every single receipt he received. This grew into a routine that lasted long after Hackett stopped officially working for Warhol, through phone conversations and taped recordings. Warhol would inject bits of his everyday life into the financial chatter and he and Hackett became close friends and confidants. Approximately two years after Warhol's passing, Hackett compiled all of her notes together, made it into a cohesive whole, and published it as The Andy Warhol Diaries. And the Warhol fan should silently thank Hackett every day for this.

Because of the intimate friendship these two people enjoyed, the reader is able to get a more personal, more vulnerable view of one of the art world's most original and celebrated figures. By devouring the pages of this easily readable text, one can understand that for all the glitz and glamour associated with this artist's public persona, his private life was actually not that much different from that of the "average" American. He went to work, he paid his bills, he interacted with his friends, he tried to navigate the tricky world of love and romance, and experienced the same level of disappointments, setbacks, rejection, and confusion as that of any other human being in the post-industrial world.

Though that isn't to say that Warhol's life was completely devoid of the glitter that seemed to shine on the surface. To delve into the diaries is to escape into the celebrity-filled world of Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s, where one could bump into Jacqueline Onassis, Bianca Jagger, Diane von Furstenburg, or a massive array of other celebrities, all of whom Warhol had at least brief encounters with. Warhol did live what some might describe as a jet set lifestyle, flying off here and there to do promotional work, to attend various events held in his honor, to work with some new art patron of his, or on occasion to just relax and interact with his friends, both famous and non-famous. But he was by no means a spendthrift; indeed, many passages in the diaries indicate his desire to save money or to invest it, not wishing to squander his money away and return to the life he had as a child in a poor immigrant family. So his jet-set lifestyle did have its limits and he did end up spending a tremendous amount of time in and around his NYC home base, choosing to do most of his lounging at his vacation home in Montauk.

One might think that all of the above might tell the full story of The Diaries, that this means The Diaries are no longer worth checking out. One would be wholly incorrect, there, because The Diaries are so much more than just a chronicle of an artist's life. They give the reader an insight into the artist's personality that only his own words, lovingly preserved by his former assistant, can give. They make the reader fall in love with Warhol, make the reader forever protective of him, make the reader wish he or she could've gotten a chance to know the late artist before his untimely and unfortunate demise in 1987. For this and many other reasons, this publication is an absolute must-read for anyone even remotely interested in "that guy who painted Campbell's soup cans" and is worth every single penny of its list price and then some.

a Warhol must-have
Reviewer: Mary Nears (anahuac, texas United States)
If you're into Warhol, you already have this book.

A Very Enjoyable Read,
Reviewer: barton m. london (Santa Barbara, CA United States)
Andy's sense of humor (laughs) really shines through as we are taken on a day-to-day jaunt of his most mundane activities. Somehow, no matter what the activity, no matter how inconsequential, it is interesting, generally funny and often compelling. Perhaps this is becuase Andy does not take himself too seriously, freely revealing his own faults and insecurities. He also shares spicy information on his contempoaries such as Liz Taylor, Truman Capote, Halston and the Area 51 crowd but never in a malicious or vindictive way.
Pat Hackett, a long-time associate and friend of Warhol, does an excellant job distilling and editing the Diaries into a comprehensive whole...A great and entertaining read.

Dear Diary....,
Reviewer: F. Gentile (Lake Worth, Florida, United States)
This is my bring along on a long plane/train ride- boring seminar- wait in the doctors office- slow day at the business-tedious guided tour book. I love this "diary", actually the transcripts of Andy Warhols morning ramblings, via phone, to good friend and editor, Pat Hackett, usually pertaining to the events of the night before. She also edited this book down from its original 20,000 page manuscript, and, though there was talk of "embellishing", this still is a fascinating read. Andy is here, his observations filled with all his candor, humor, bitchiness, kindness, etc...the man who many said had little to say actually had alot to say. He leaves almost no celebrity unturned, and is sometimes un-hypocritical and scathing in his appraisals of them. Though honest, it is not in any way intentionally mean-spirited, and the man who many considered a huge phony is astutely precise in his observations of the phoniness around him. A great daily chronicle of a not so every day life, that was alot of things, but was never boring. This is a great book to put down and pick up a month later, as there is no plot to worry about, just the very entertaining and honest opinions that started out as just personal daily conversations between two people, and ended up being a record of an era. As Andy would haltingly say: "Oh....just....greeeeaaatttt."

what was andy doing when...,
Reviewer: supastar (brooklyn)
you were born? you had a birthday, etc. etc. Very complete in terms of hardly a day skipped from 1976 to 1987. While some might enjoy reading it straight, there's no need. Andy's casual talk of celebs is great. One day, my fifth birthday, his 54th, is a great one. "It was a depressing day, my birthday... Met Dustin's new wife, very pretty , who looks like Debra Winger. So many of these girls now do. But the baby looks like one of those babies Barbra Streisand would have with Elliot Gould." -typical entry. good stuff, utterly useless, and that's what makes it good.

Best "gossipy" book ever!!!!,
Reviewer: "cindyanderic" (Boston, MA)
I bought this as a teenager, when it first came out, and it's still one of my all time favorites!!! I'm sure so many of the rich and famous celebrities and debutantes cringed over it! Imagine their "friend" Andy commenting on them like he does! Calling them cheap, commenting on their insecurities, ect. One of the funniest parts in the book was Andy commenting on Jerry Hall's B.O. I love Jerry, the girlfriend and later wife (now ex) of Mick Jagger. I'll bet she never imagined anyone would write about her having B.O.!!! This book is bitchy, gossipy, and downright hilarious at times. It's also loaded with great pictures.

The best book ever!,
Reviewer: Mary Fata (Queens, NY USA)
I recently bought this book on a whim and it has got to be the best book that I've ever read. I read Bob Colacelo's book as a starting point and I'm glad that I did even though it was sour grapes on Andy.
This book is so chatty, sad, funny, insensitive and revealing about Andy Warhol and his role as the most public man on the New York Party scene of the 70's and 80's. It's a real time capsule of world events as well, and it will bring back alot of memories for people who lived through the political and social turmoil of those decades.
It's a huge book and you really get your moneys worth on Andy Warhol's psyche in all of it's positive and negative glorious-ness. It's taking me a few weeks to read it and I can't put it down, except that I have to to go to work every day. I'm really enjoying it alot!

Great
Reviewer: A reader
This book is fun. Andy was a piece of art himself. He was a loser who lived with his mother, who was also the biggest of winners as the most successful American artist of the 20th Century. He was an icon of the sex and drugs and never-trust-anyone-over-30 era of the 60's...who never did drugs and never had sex, and became a star in his 30's. He was outrageous and shy. Rarely smiled, but had a great sense of humor. People put him down...but what contemporary artist today has REMOTELY the type recognition he had/has. Oh, Andy!!!

Interesting and entertaining
Reviewer: A reader
This book highlights the contradictions that were Warhol. He was a winner/loser, daring/timid, a man who was an icon in the drug-crazed 60's and 70's, who never did a nonprescription drug himself. A man who epitimized the 60's generation who hated their parents...but Warhol lived with his mother. Warhol was unique, and that's what make these diaries worth reading.

Great Gossip and picture of the times,
Reviewer: Lesley West (St James, Western Australia)
If you want a great picture of the New York scene in the 70s and early 80s you can't go past this book. Andy Warhol was the ultimate party animal, and his observations of the people he partied with and the places he partied at are witty and insightful.
But hey the gossip is great! Lots of people were uncomfortable when this was published, and with good cause. It is really quite revealing!
If you are interested in the arts scene of the times this is a really revealing book. If you like a good gossip this is for you. Enjoy Mr Warhol's 15 minutes of fame! He appeared to.

Make that 10 Stars
Reviewer: "tonlo" (Pembroke Pines, Florida USA)
Andy is the greatest, he is funny without even trying to be. Very witty, and humorous. All the gossip one would want, he held nothing back. Great photos too.

5 "Super-Stars",
Reviewer: Greg %'r (Under a Tree, Planet Earth)
If Andy were here today, he would read all of the reviews written here and speak of them for a couple of pages in his diary, insecurely and half-joking (usual Warhol). A great book, not just on Warhol, but on the face of the rapidly changing American Culture of the 70-80's. You won't find out too much about Warhol (on the day his mother dies there is a mention of Liz Taylors' shoes, but not a word about his mother) but a very, very entertaining read from the mouth of one of the greats who died too soon. Read it. Then read "The Philosophy of Andy warhol", also very good.

Lots of amusing, entertaining, interesting talk and info.,
Reviewer: "rjgrib" (Deltona, FL United States)
For the most part, Warhol gives us a unique look into the complex smarmy world of the celebrity set. He goes into great detail almost on a daily basis of what he did, who he met, his opinions and reactions, etc. Sometimes it gets a little boring, and other times you devour the pages. I found it very hard to swallow about his so called revelation of not using drugs. Either he was carefully concocting this lie or the editors wanted to add more credibility to his stories by omitting any drug usage he probably was doing while running around with the jet set. Still Andy was one of the most colorful and lovable characters ever to emerge from the 60's.

Mordant, heartbreaking, exhilarating... a must!,
Reviewer: Miguel Cane "Writer, Journalist, Film Critic" (Mexico City, Mexico)
A fantastic look inside the head of one of the world's biggest mysteries! And the guide is none other than the man himself.
Under the platinum fright-wig, there was a swiss-made machinery that went on 24/7. This is a description of Andy's last 9 years. At times funny and piquant, at others annoying, it offers the closest thing to an autobiography there ever will be about both man & myth.
A veritable who's who and who's what (and where) of this era is there in vivid detail. From the '54 days, to Bianca and Mick's ugly split, John Lennon's murder which left Warhol aghast, to Truman Capote's passing which made him cry. Phone chats with First Ladies and litterbugs, crushes on rock stars, celebrity weddings and celebrity parties, taxi bills (oh, how he kept track of money!), loneliness in crowds and funny, catty comment on friends and foes alike with the deadpan charm that was his trademark.
This is a most precious document on pop culture and history, as seen through the eyes and lenses of a man who was gifted with talent and was virtuous enough to be totally observant.
Read it and keep it forever!

15 mins. and counting...,
Reviewer: Mindy Bruce (USA)
Although lengthy, this was a fun romp through the last days of glam, trashy, disco-era Hollywood. It's a must-read guilty pleasure. I DARE anyone not to laugh out loud at Warhol's dead-pan descriptions. Half of Hollywood still doesn't know whether to laugh or to hide! This is the be-all-end-all for the bedside or coffeetable.

Stream-of-consciousness, Warhol-style
Reviewer: Matthew D. Hydeman "voyage" (Tucson, Arizona, USA)
If you ever wanted to know what the New York state of mind was in the 1970s and 1980s, then this book is for you. Andy Warhol lived at the center of the "beautiful people" in the New York club/celebrity scene, from his Factory to Studio 54 and seemingly everywhere else. From hustlers and porn stars to the Hollywood glitterati and political movers and shakers, Warhol dictated it all to his diarist, Pat Hackett, who distilled it from 20,000 pages into this huge book. You will be shocked, you will be amused and you will see why there was only one Andy Warhol -- the artist and pop culturist who took a "New York" minute and turned it into 15 minutes of bizarre fame. Don't miss out on this book!

Fun
Reviewer: A reader
Fun to read, and a book that shows that legends-in-their-own-time (like Warhol, Jagger, etc.) have daily annoyances in their lives, too. Warhol has a sense of humor that makes this fun to read. One thing I think a lot of readers will wonder about in this book is, Why did Warhol and his successful friends put up with Halston's side-kick Victor Hugo? Victor Hugo was merely a male prostitute that Halston used, then befriended and lived with. And Hugo became part of this fashionable group, but all he ever does is sponge off Halston, insult people and be rude and destructive...But still no one kicks him out of the group? Why did Warhol and his friends put up with this jerk?

A stunning look into the life, mind, and times of a master.,
Reviewer: A reader
This answers the question 'What was Andy Warhol REALLY like?' in a way as enigmatic as the man, himself. Most of the entries are startlingly frank, speaking about a woman's dress in the same sentence he speaks about someone snorting coke in a bedroom. As callous and indifferent as he may have seemed, these diaries prove that Andy was truly immersed in the lives of those around him.

A Wonderful Life,
Reviewer: A reader
This is a very nice book. If you like Andy, you'll love this book. Andy himself!! It's a long book but very interesting!! Just read it!

fun!,
Reviewer: A reader
I can't say this book is worthwhile, but boy is it fun, and absolutely addictive! It's like eating the best junk food. You know you should be eating something else (i.e. reading Will Durant instead) but you can't resist! Cocktail parties, gossip, aristocrats, beauties, celebrities and the filthy rich are visited and reported on.

This book is worthless,
Reviewer: A reader
None of the insight, humor, or wit that can be found in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol--this book reads like "I went here, then I went here, then I spoke to [whoever] and then..." etc, etc...

A fascinating look at a bizarre world
Reviewer: Michael Krechmer
For anyone interested in viewing celebrities as deities, this book isn't for you. Warhol was at the center of the NY 'scene', and his casual observations of freinds and acquaintances really brings them down to earth. At times whiny, one wonders if Warhol was ever really happy. A very intimate portrait of a great iconoclast

Gossip and More Gossip about the fabulous 70s and 80s,
Reviewer: A reader
Fascinating tales from the horses mouth. Andy dictated his diary to Pat Hackett at 9:30 am daily from whereever he was in the world. It started out as an expense account diary, but it turned into gossipy dish about the wild times in the Warhol world of the 70s and 80s. One can almost hear Andy speaking the words in his low, whiney voice. Some parts are very very funny, other parts make you want to cry. Andy was a lost soul and it comes through very clearly in his quest for acceptance. This book is large, trimmed down from 20,000 original diary pages, but still too large for a quick read. It almost takes extra time to read the diaries, a lot cannot be absorbed all at once. It is best ingested and enjoyed in small doses. It is really a delight and full of naughty fun