Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster
by Dana Brown
Hardcover
From the publisher's website:
Dana Brown was a twenty-one-year-old college
dropout playing in punk bands and partying his way through downtown New
York’s early-nineties milieu when he first encountered Graydon Carter,
the legendary editor of Vanity Fair. After the two had a
handful of brief interactions (mostly with Brown in the role of cater
waiter at Carter’s famous cultural salons he hosted at his home), Carter
saw what he believed to be Brown’s untapped potential, and on a whim,
hired him as his assistant. Brown instantly became a trusted confidante
and witness to all of the biggest parties, blowups, and takedowns. From
inside the famed Vanity Fair Oscar parties to the emerging
world of the tech elite, Brown’s job offered him access to some of the
most exclusive gatherings and powerful people in the world, and the
chance to learn in real time what exactly a magazine editor does—all
while trying to stay sober enough from the required party scene
attendance to get the job done. Against all odds, he rose up the ranks
to eventually become the magazine’s deputy editor, spending a quarter
century curating tastes at one of the most storied cultural shops ever
assembled.
Dilettante reveals Brown’s most memorable
moments from the halcyon days of the magazine business, explores his own
journey as an unpedigreed outsider to established editor, and shares
glimpses of some of the famous and infamous stories (and people) that
tracked the magazine’s extraordinary run all keenly observed by Brown.
He recounts tales from the trenches, including encounters with everyone
from Anna Wintour, Lee Radziwill, and Condé Nast owner Si Newhouse, to
Seth Rogen, Caitlyn Jenner, and acclaimed journalists Dominick Dunne and
Christopher Hitchens.
Written with equal parts affection, cultural exploration, and nostalgia, Dilettante
is a defining story within that most magical time and place in the
culture of media. It is also a highly readable memoir that skillfully
delivers a universal coming-of-age story about growing up and finding
your place in the world.
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