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Sebastian Ritscher
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BOURDAIN

Laurie Woolever

The Definitive Oral Biography

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best.
When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fans around the globe came together to celebrate the life of an inimitable man who had dedicated his life to traveling nearly everywhere (and eating nearly everything), shedding light on the lives and stories of others. His impact was outsized and his legacy has only grown since his death. Now, for the first time, we have been granted a look into Bourdain's life through the stories and recollections of his closest friends and colleagues. Laurie Woolever, Bourdain's longtime assistant and confidante, interviewed nearly a hundred of the people who shared Tony's orbitfrom members of his kitchen crews to his writing, publishing, and television partners, to his daughter and his closest friendsin order to piece together a remarkably full, vivid, and nuanced vision of Tony's life and work. From his childhood and teenage days, to his early years in New York, through the genesis of his game-changing memoir Kitchen Confidential to his emergence as a writing and television personality, and in the words of friends and colleagues including Eric Ripert, José Andrés, Nigella Lawson, and W. Kamau Bell, as well as family members including his brother and his late mother, we see the many sides of Tonyhis motivations, his ambivalence, his vulnerability, his blind spots, and his brilliance. Unparalleled in scope and deeply intimate in its execution, with a treasure trove of photos from Tony's life, Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography is a testament to the life of a remarkable man in the words of the people who shared his world. Laurie Woolever spent nearly a decade assisting Anthony Bourdain, with whom she co?authored the cookbook Appetites. She's written about food and travel for the New York Times, GQ, Food & Wine, Saveur, Dissent, Roads & Kingdoms, and others, and has worked as an editor at Art Culinaire and Wine Spectator.
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Published 2021-09-28 by Ecco Press

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UK: Bloomsbury UK ; Brazilian: Intrinseca ; Bulgarian: Kragozor ; Romanian: Cublica Com SRL ; Serbian: Mascom E.C. ; Spanish: Planeta

The oral-history format makes for a rangy, sometimes self-contradictory, and roundly true-feeling portrait of a captivating person. Bourdain's fans will find it impossible to put down.

Laurie Woolever on the pain and pleasure of publishing Anthony Bourdain's story Read more...

A new book honors the life of Anthony Bourdain in the words of those who knew him best. T+L dives in with author Laurie Woolever... Read more...

"Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography tells the full story of the man who seemed to have the greatest job, and the greatest life, in the world," Woolever tells PEOPLE in a statement. "The stories, memories and insights shared within it, from Tony's immediate family, childhood friends, college classmates, kitchen colleagues, television partners, and friends he picked up on his journey, will answer questions about who he really was, what motivated him, and how he chose to live his fascinating life." Read more...

A chorus of candid voices creates an engaging biography. Read more...

It's been just over three years since Anthony Bourdain died, and it still sucks (don't even try to do the math on who's still living). His generosity, his candor, his humanity - these are all virtues we should aspire to everyday. And if we don't have the man himself, anymore, to show us the way, we can at least learn a bit more about who he was through the stories of his many, many friends, collected here by Laurie Woolever. Read more...

The LA Times picked BOURDAIN as one of their 5 Biggest Nonficition Books of the Fall Read more...

I spoke to Woolever, who worked with Bourdain for almost a decade, about the experience of chronicling the life of such a beloved and complicated public figure. .. Read more...

Interview with Laurie Woolever Read more...

The controversial recent documentary "Roadrunner" demonstrated two things: The public remains insatiably fascinated with the food-travel writer and TV host who died in 2018; and much remains to be told. Laurie Woolever, Anthony Bourdain's longtime assistant, interviewed nearly 100 friends and colleagues of the host of "Parts Unknown" and "No Reservations," constructing an intimate portrait from the points of view of those who knew him best. Read more...

This intriguing collection of intimate conversations that Woolever conducted with his family, friends, kitchen colleagues, television associates, travel partners, publishing execs and others who spent meaningful time in Bourdain's trajectory illuminates his behind-the-scenes worlds. Read more...

Celebrated chef and author Anthony Bourdain (19562018) cuts a charismatic yet enigmatic figure in this kaleidoscopic oral history... This fascinating mosaic doesn't unearth Bourdain's inner demons, but it does capture the inimitable legacy he left behind. Read more...