"Smart and entertaining . . . Gefter shows why Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hit the '60s like a torpedo." **-**NPR, Fresh Air"Delicious." **-**New York Times Book ReviewThe behind-the-scenes story of a provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever.From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who...

'Well-researched ... I was fascinated' Roger Lewis, Daily MailFrom its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalised critics but magnetised audiences.Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's so...

"Wise and ebullient." – Dwight Garner, The New York TimesThe first definitive biography of Richard Avedon, a monumental photographer of the twentieth century, from award-winning photography critic Philip Gefter.In his acclaimed portraits, Richard Avedon captured the iconic figures of the twentieth century in his starkly bold, intimately minimal, and forensic visual style. Concurrently, his work for Harper's Bazaar and ...

In Photography After Frank, former New York Times writer and picture editor Philip Gefter narrates the tale of contemporary photography, beginning at the pivotal moment when Robert Frank commenced his seminal works of the 1950s. Along the way, he connects the dots of photography's evolution into what it is today, forging links between its episodes to reveal unsuspected leaps. Gefter takes Frank's The Americans as a decisive challenge to photographic objectivity, ...

Winner of the Arts Club of Washington Marfield PrizeA New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionThis "admiring and absorbing biography" (Deborah Solomon, The New York Times Book Review) charts Sam Wagstaff's incalculable influence on contemporary art, photography, and gay identity.A legendary curator, collector, and patron of the arts, Sam Wagstaff was a "figure who stood at the intersection of gay life an...

Bloomsbury presents Cocktails with George and Martha by Philip Gefter, read by Alexa Morden."Smart and entertaining . . . Gefter shows why Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hit the ‘60s like a torpedo." **—**NPR, Fresh Air"Delicious." **—**New York Times Book ReviewThe behind-the-scenes story of a provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconi...

The first definitive biography of Richard Avedon, a monumental photographer of the twentieth century, from award-winning photography critic Philip Gefter.In his acclaimed portraits, Richard Avedon captured the iconic figures of the twentieth century in his starkly bold, intimately minimal, and forensic visual style. Concurrently, his work for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue transformed the ideals of women's fashion, femininity, and culture to become the...