TMZ for historians
August 17, 2015 8:18 PM Subscribe
I love a good, juicy social history with bigger-than-life characters. Which ones are your favorites?
I really enjoy a certain type of book--social histories about literary or artistic groups that are light on theory, but heavy on trivia and gossip that really paint a picture of what it was like to be part of that group, like being at a fantastic cocktail party while people hash and rehash their histories.
A few good examples of this type of book would be:
- February House - W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Carson McCullers, Gypsy Rose Lee and a bunch of other arty types live together in a madcap commune in WWII Brooklyn, hijinks ensue.
- Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara and The Last Avant-Garde - Love, sex, and poetry amongst the New York School of poets and painters
- The Beautiful Fall - YSL and Karl Lagerfeld duke it out in the 1970s fashion scene
- I also can't think of a specific book right now, but I've read quite a few of these on the Romantic poets. Byron, Caroline Lamb, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Keats--they were a lively bunch.
Probably the grandfather of this genre would be Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.
I'd love to find more of this type of book, because they are very fun to read. Open to time periods--they don't have to be literary folks! My only exception would be the Beats, for whatever reason, they just don't interest me that much. What other books should I be putting on my to-read list?
I really enjoy a certain type of book--social histories about literary or artistic groups that are light on theory, but heavy on trivia and gossip that really paint a picture of what it was like to be part of that group, like being at a fantastic cocktail party while people hash and rehash their histories.
A few good examples of this type of book would be:
- February House - W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Carson McCullers, Gypsy Rose Lee and a bunch of other arty types live together in a madcap commune in WWII Brooklyn, hijinks ensue.
- Digressions on Some Poems by Frank O'Hara and The Last Avant-Garde - Love, sex, and poetry amongst the New York School of poets and painters
- The Beautiful Fall - YSL and Karl Lagerfeld duke it out in the 1970s fashion scene
- I also can't think of a specific book right now, but I've read quite a few of these on the Romantic poets. Byron, Caroline Lamb, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Keats--they were a lively bunch.
Probably the grandfather of this genre would be Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.
I'd love to find more of this type of book, because they are very fun to read. Open to time periods--they don't have to be literary folks! My only exception would be the Beats, for whatever reason, they just don't interest me that much. What other books should I be putting on my to-read list?
Best answer: And if you like Shakespeare and Company, you might enjoy Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties, which was the book I was thinking of in the first place.
posted by bibliowench at 8:35 PM on August 17, 2015
posted by bibliowench at 8:35 PM on August 17, 2015
Best answer: I love books like this too. I just finished Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy, A Lost Generation Love Story.
posted by atropos at 8:47 PM on August 17, 2015
posted by atropos at 8:47 PM on August 17, 2015
Edie, perhaps. It isn't so much a biography of Edie Sedgwick as a biography of the Warhol Factory scene. I remember literally nothing about Edie herself because there are so many bigger personalities in the book. And a big big +1 to the Patti Smith memoir which intersects a bit with the tail end of that scene. It's almost infuriating to read; she makes NYC of the 70s seem like a small town where only the coolest people of the decade lived.
Not quite exactly what you want but I think you might find The Sisters very entertaining. It's like being at an insane cocktail party and the belles of the ball are all related.
posted by town of cats at 9:38 PM on August 17, 2015
Not quite exactly what you want but I think you might find The Sisters very entertaining. It's like being at an insane cocktail party and the belles of the ball are all related.
posted by town of cats at 9:38 PM on August 17, 2015
David Talbot's Season of the Witch does this for San Francisco from 1967-1982.
And yes, Just Kids is fantastic!
posted by mollymayhem at 12:15 AM on August 18, 2015
And yes, Just Kids is fantastic!
posted by mollymayhem at 12:15 AM on August 18, 2015
The Six Wives of Henry VIII. This is a great history of the intrigue and social power-plays that happened at court during the reign of one of the most important European Monarchs. The women involved are all larger than life. This book reads easy and is filled with juicy details of their lives. I highly recommend it.
posted by Flood at 5:13 AM on August 18, 2015
posted by Flood at 5:13 AM on August 18, 2015
You might enjoy Peggy Guggenheims autobiography "confessions of an art addict"
posted by Under the Sea at 5:20 AM on August 18, 2015
posted by Under the Sea at 5:20 AM on August 18, 2015
I spent the entirety of the Flashman series with Wikipedia close at hand because I kept saying, "No way this actually happened". It's a fun series of books that focuses on some seamier historical characters.
posted by yerfatma at 7:35 AM on August 18, 2015
posted by yerfatma at 7:35 AM on August 18, 2015
You might be interested in Anne Helen Petersen's work for the Hairpin and Buzzfeed (Scandals of Classic Hollywood!)
posted by Flamingo at 7:47 AM on August 18, 2015
posted by Flamingo at 7:47 AM on August 18, 2015
The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro.
The Power Broker, also by Robert Caro.
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.
posted by Automocar at 10:43 AM on August 18, 2015
The Power Broker, also by Robert Caro.
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.
posted by Automocar at 10:43 AM on August 18, 2015
A quote from mefite gingerbeer, who has been heavily involved in HIV/AIDS activism and community for decades re And the Band Played On:
I hate and despise And the Band Played On. If you must read it, please do not assume that anything in there happened remotely as Randy Shilts imagined it.
(I don't know if you're looking for truth or merely a good time, but buyer beware, I suppose.)
posted by mollymayhem at 6:23 PM on August 18, 2015
I hate and despise And the Band Played On. If you must read it, please do not assume that anything in there happened remotely as Randy Shilts imagined it.
(I don't know if you're looking for truth or merely a good time, but buyer beware, I suppose.)
posted by mollymayhem at 6:23 PM on August 18, 2015
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posted by bibliowench at 8:33 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]