Graydon Carter

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 IN THE INDEPENDENT, GQ, NEW STATESMAN, FINANCIAL TIMES AND BBC CULTURE 'Graydon Carter is a brilliant raconteur of his own life...it's a real yarn of a lost world' Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment When the Going Was Good is Graydon Carter's lively recounting of how he made his mark as one of society's most talented editors and shapers of culture. Carter arrived in New York from Canada with little more than a suitcase, a failed literary magazine in his past and a keen sense of ambition. He landed a job at Time, went on to work at Life, co-founded Spy magazine and edited The New York Observer before catching the eye of Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, who tapped him to run Vanity Fair. With his inimitable voice and raconteur's quip, Carter brings readers inside the drawing rooms of the great and not-always-good of America, Britain and Europe. He assembled one of the best-ever stables of writers and photographers under one roof, and here he re-creates in real time the steps he took to ensure that Vanity Fair during his 25-year run cemented its place as the epicentre of art, culture, business and politics. Charming, candid and brimming with humour, When the Going Was Good perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out.

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 IN THE INDEPENDENT, GQ, NEW STATESMAN, FINANCIAL TIMES AND BBC CULTURE'Graydon Carter is a brilliant raconteur of his own life...it's a real yarn of a lost world' Marina Hyde, The Rest is EntertainmentWhen the Going Was Good is Graydon Carter's lively recounting of how he made his mark as one of society's most talented editors and shapers of culture. Carter arrived in New York from Canada with little more than a suitcase, a failed literary magazine in his past and a keen sense of ambition. He landed a job at Time, went on to work at Life, co-founded Spy magazine and edited The New York Observer before catching the eye of Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, who tapped him to run Vanity Fair.With his inimitable voice and raconteur's quip, Carter brings readers inside the drawing rooms of the great and not-always-good of America, Britain and Europe. He assembled one of the best-ever stables of writers and photographers under one roof, and here he re-creates in real time the steps he took to ensure that Vanity Fair during his 25-year run cemented its place as the epicentre of art, culture, business and politics. Charming, candid and brimming with humour, When the Going Was Good perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out.

From the pages of Vanity Fair to the red carpets of Hollywood, editor Graydon Carter's memoir revives the glamorous heyday of print magazines when they were at the vanguard of American culture When Graydon Carter was offered the editorship of Vanity Fair in 1992, he knew he faced an uphill battle--how to make the esteemed and long-established magazine his own. Not only was he confronted with a staff that he perceived to be loyal to the previous regime, but he arrived only a few years after launching Spy magazine, which gloried in skewering the celebrated and powerful--the very people Vanity Fair venerated. With curiosity, fearlessness, and a love of recent history and glamour that would come to define his storied career in magazines, Carter succeeded in endearing himself to his editors, contributors, and readers, as well as many of the faces that would come to appear in Vanity Fair's pages. He went on to run the magazine with overwhelming success for the next two and a half decades. Filled with colorful memories and intimate details, When the Going Was Good is Graydon Carter's lively recounting of how he made his mark as one of the most talented editors in the business. Moving to New York from Canada, he worked at Time, Life, The New York Observer, and Spy, before catching the eye of Cond Nast chairman Si Newhouse, who pulled him in to run Vanity Fair. In Newhouse he found an unwavering champion, a loyal proprietor who gave Carter the editorial and financial freedom to thrive. Annie Leibovitz's photographs would come to define the look of the magazine, as would the "New Establishment" and annual Hollywood issues. Carter further planted a flag in Los Angeles with the legendary Vanity Fair Oscar party. With his inimitable voice and signature quip, he brings readers to lunches and dinners with the great and good of America, Britain, and Europe. He assembled one of the most formidable stables of writers and photographers under one roof, and here he re-creates in real time the steps he took to ensure Vanity Fair cemented its place as the epicenter of art, culture, business, and politics, even as digital media took hold. Charming, candid, and brimming with stories, When the Going Was Good perfectly captures the last golden age of print magazines from the inside out.

The Mill Reef Club was founded in 1947 on the Caribbean island of Antigua. The visionary American architect who championed the 1,500-acre Club was Robertson “Happy” Ward. Ward solicited interest in the Club among a who’s who of American industrialists and leading citizens, including Mellons, DuPonts, Cowles, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, and poet Archibald MacLeish. Ward encouraged members who built homes on Club property to adhere to a mid-century vernacular. Houses were positioned to catch prevailing winds for cooling purposes, and cisterns and catchments were added to collect and store rainwater. This new, full-color coffee-table book celebrates 75 years of the evolution of architecture to what former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter terms “High WASP Modernism. A succession of nearly 300 Mill Reef house owners have reimagined Happy Ward’s original design decisions in the update and remodel of 50 private houses at the club. . The fanciful sense of whimsy, initiated by Ward, is echoed today by modern architects and designers who still bow to the founder’s conception and are today arbiters of an updated Mill Reef aesthetic. With 385 color photos and 324 pages, the book is a stunning introduction to one of the world’s most exclusive private clubs.

A lavishly illustrated banquet of style, elegance, and taste, this is a who's who of the most glamorous men and women around the world, the ultimate treasury of fashion inspiration. This sumptuous volume--the ultimate sourcebook for fashion mavens, Instagram followers, and celebrity worshippers--presents the complete history of the much-lauded and highly visible International Best-Dressed List (IBDL) launched by Eleanor Lambert, 'Godmother of Fashion,' in 1940. The List has become a barometer of style and the highest honor a sartorial savant can receive, and today it's an ongoing record of the world's most glamorous women and men from society, royalty, Hollywood, celebrity, fashion, art, culture, sports, and media. These gorgeous 'swans' of elegance, influence, and grace are gathered here in the most comprehensive survey ever published. This rich story is told by insider and IBDL Hall-of-Famer Amy Fine Collins through her encyclopedic knowledge, exclusive insights, and countless entertaining anecdotes about the behind-the-scenes goings-on--Lambert was offered kickbacks and bribes of up to $50,000 by list aspirants--that shed light on the selection process, the vibrant personalities (not to mention egos) of the chosen, and the zeitgeist of the times. For sixty years, Lambert was queen of the International Best-Dressed List. In 2002, she formally ceded the reins to Graydon Carter, Amy Fine Collins, Reinaldo Herrera, and Aimee Bell.

When Benedikt Taschen asked the most important portrait photographer working today, Annie Leibovitz, to collect her pictures in a SUMO-sized book, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to develop and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed in at 26 kg (57 pounds). This incredible collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format. Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work, starting with the photojournalism she did for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s through the conceptual portraits she made for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She selected iconic images—such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono entwined in a last embrace—as well as portraits that had rarely, if ever, been seen before. The Annie Leibovitz SUMO covered political and cultural history, from Queen Elizabeth II and Richard Nixon to Laurie Anderson and Lady Gaga. “What I had thought of initially as a simple process of imagining what looked good big, what photographs would work in a large format, became something else,” Leibovitz says. “The book is very personal, but the narrative is told through popular culture. It’s not arranged chronologically and it’s not a retrospective. It’s more like a roller coaster.” Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated subjects can now enjoy that same roller coaster ride for themselves with this unlimited edition.

When Benedikt Taschen asked the most important portrait photographer working today, Annie Leibovitz, to collect her pictures in a SUMO-sized book, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to develop and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed in at 26 kg (57 pounds). This incredible collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format. Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work, starting with the photojournalism she did for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s through the conceptual portraits she made for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She selected iconic images—such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono entwined in a last embrace—as well as portraits that had rarely, if ever, been seen before. The Annie Leibovitz SUMO covered political and cultural history, from Queen Elizabeth II and Richard Nixon to Laurie Anderson and Lady Gaga. “What I had thought of initially as a simple process of imagining what looked good big, what photographs would work in a large format, became something else,” Leibovitz says. “The book is very personal, but the narrative is told through popular culture. It’s not arranged chronologically and it’s not a retrospective. It’s more like a roller coaster.” Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated subjects can now enjoy that same roller coaster ride for themselves with this unlimited edition.

Elegantly curated by the legendary photographer and his youngest daughter Frances von Hofmannsthal, Snowdon looks back at an exceptional life and features a selection of 175 full-colour and black-and-white stylish fashion photographs and iconic portraits taken throughout his expansive and influential career. Having started photographing at a young age, Snowdon focused primarily on theatre, fashion, and society photography before becoming the official Royal photographer and starting a six-decade working relationship with Vogue. In 1960, he married Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1961 he began his illustrious career with The Sunday Times magazine. Known for his expressive and candid portraits, using both subtle humour and quiet sincerity, Snowdon s work evokes a sense of familiarity met with extreme beauty. His successes have branched equally from the worlds of high fashion and celebrity to the British Royal family, making his audience vast and beloved. The subjects featured include Cecil Beaton, Charlie Chaplin, David Bowie, Marlene Dietrich, Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Serge Gainsbourg, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jack Nicholson, among others. Archive material includes previously unpublished polaroid's, private scrapbooks, and letters.

This compilation is a summation of my first few months seriously trying to write poetry, works of art. I fall short of great, I understand, but this is a personal work that I feel needs to be published. Thank you for taking the time and being interested, I hope everyone can connect with me somehow.

Vanity Fair 100 Years showcases a century of personality and power, art and commerce, crisis and culture—both highbrow and low. In the sumptuous 384-page coffee table book, the editors of Vanity Fair have created the definitive history of the most talked-about magazine of our day. From its inception in 1913, through the Jazz Age and the Depression, to its reincarnation in the boom-boom Reagan years (after a 47-year hiatus), to the image-saturated Information Age, Vanity Fair has presented the modern era as it has unfolded—using wit, imagination, peerless literary narrative and bold, groundbreaking imagery. The most innovative voices in popular culture are all compiled within these pages (from Robert Benchley, Jacques Cocteau and Dorothy Parker, to William Styron, Christopher Hitchens and Dominick Dunne) along with the greatest magazine illustrators, artists and photographers of all time—most notably Edward Steichen and Annie Leibovitz, who, through Vanity Fair, virtually invented the modern celebrity portrait. Writers Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger contribute an essay on the incomparable Frank Crowninshield and the birth of the Jazz Age Vanity Fair, Jim Windolf chronicles the magazine’s rebirth in 1983, and Frank DiGiacomo gives the history of the glamorous Vanity Fair Oscar Party.

"Hot grease, sharp knives, infidelity, and white truffles....The Hunger has all the right ingredients....The best memoir by a chef since Kitchen Confidential."--Jay McInerney The Hunger is the page-turning memoir from John DeLucie, chef of THE celebrity hot spot restaurant in New York City, The Waverly Inn. With an introduction by Graydon Carter, legendary Editor of Vanity Fair, The Hunger is an unabashed celebration of hard work and the good life that Anthony Bourdain fans will simply eat up--a feast for foodies that author Salman Rushdie calls, "A delightful book....I recommend it to anyone interested in good food--and good stories."

A collection of stories from Vanity Fair magazine about the current financial crisis by some of the country's best business journalists, including Michael Lewis (Moneyball, Liar's Poker), Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate), and Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down), edited by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, and with an introduction by Cullen Murphy (Are We Rome?).