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Dilettante
- True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster
- Narrated by: Dana Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
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Publisher's summary
A witty, insightful, and delightfully snarky blend of pop culture meets memoir meets real-life Devil Wears Prada as listeners learn the stories behind 25 years at Vanity Fair from the magazine’s former deputy editor
“Dilettante offers the best seat in the house into the workings of one of the great cultural institutions of our time.” - Buzz Bissinger, New York Times bestselling author of Friday Night Lights
Dana Brown was a 21-year-old college dropout playing in punk bands and partying his way through downtown New York’s early-'90s 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 engaging memoir that skillfully delivers a universal coming-of-age story about growing up and finding your place in the world.
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Critic reviews
"Dilettante is a salute to an industry and its practitioners, those who were making a meaningful cultural contribution even while they were trying their damnedest to drain Condé Nast’s fathomless expense account.”—Shelf Awareness
“I got to work with Dana Brown when I was asked to edit Vanity Fair’s comedy issue. As I got to know him a bit, I kept thinking—Oh the things he’s seen! While Dana was too discreet to tell me the good stuff back then, I’m so glad he’s chosen to share it all now in this amazing, insightful, and funny memoir.”—Judd Apatow
“Dana Brown’s unlikely rise to deputy editor of Vanity Fair is a fairy tale. But if he started out as a dilettante, he became much more than that, shepherding culture-defining stories into the pages of America’s glossiest monthly. Impossible to put down, Dilettante is an irresistibly juicy memoir.”—Nancy Jo Sales, New York Times bestselling author of American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers
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Story
Revealingly candid, this Hollywood memoir is the story of Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch and sustain the careers of many celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers. From his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mail room to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer, Bernstein’s life is chronicled in his own words.
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Very Entertaining
- By patrick on 09-27-15
By: Jay Bernstein
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Caddyshack
- The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story
- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.
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Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5
- By William M. on 07-01-18
By: Chris Nashawaty
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Harry, a History
- The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
- By: Melissa Anelli
- Narrated by: Renée Raudman
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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With remembrances from J. K. Rowling's editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenon - from his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.
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Relive the magic!
- By Heather on 03-19-09
By: Melissa Anelli
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Conversations with My Agent (and Set Up, Joke, Set Up, Joke)
- By: Rob Long
- Narrated by: Rob Long
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Barely out of film school, Rob Long struck the jackpot and landed a job on the phenomenally successful TV sitcom Cheers. However, with the demise of the show, Long was faced with the question, "Is there life after Cheers?" Mercilessly witty about the daunting process of setting up a new series and getting it on air, these two audiobooks tell the absurd tale of what came next.
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The writers should run the business
- By Charles on 04-21-23
By: Rob Long
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Mad Women
- The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond
- By: Jane Maas
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Mad Women is a tell-all account of life in the New York advertising world of the 1960s and '70s from Jane Maas, a female copywriter who succeeded in the primarily male environment portrayed by the hit TV show Mad Men. Fans of the show are dying to know how accurate it is: did people really have that much sex in the office? Were there really three-martini lunches? Were women really second-class citizens? Jane Maas says the answer to all three questions is unequivocally yes....
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Interesting Listen
- By Dean on 04-23-12
By: Jane Maas
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Double Life
- A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood
- By: Alan Shayne, Norman Sunshine
- Narrated by: Ethan Sawyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Gay marriage is at the forefront of America's political battles. The human story at the center of this debate is told in Double Life: A Love Story, a dual memoir by a gay male couple in a 50-plus-year relationship. With high profiles in the entertainment, advertising and art communities, the authors offer a virtual timeline of how gay relationships have gained acceptance in the last half-century.
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Portrait of a Marriage--Before Gay Liberation
- By Susie on 03-06-13
By: Alan Shayne, and others
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Is Wrestling Fixed?
- I Didn't Know It Was Broken!
- By: Bill Apter
- Narrated by: Bill Apter
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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As a kid growing up in New York in the late '50s, Bill Apter fell in love with professional wrestling, and it wasn't long before he was rubbing shoulders with the greats as a young reporter and photographer. He's since become the world's best-known wrestling magazine personality, and he's had professional and personal relationships with a who's who of the business, like Triple H, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Sting, and Ric Flair.
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I am certain there is an audience out there somewhere...
- By wally on 08-21-16
By: Bill Apter
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She Made Me Laugh
- My Friend Nora Ephron
- By: Richard Cohen
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist Richard Cohen, wrote this about his "third-person memoir": "I call this book a third-person memoir. It is about my closest friend, Nora Ephron, and the lives we lived together and how her life got to be bigger until, finally, she wrote her last work, the play, Lucky Guy, about a newspaper columnist dying of cancer while she herself was dying of cancer. I have interviewed many of her other friends - Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Arianna Huffington.
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Loved it!
- By Leigh Lerro on 10-27-17
By: Richard Cohen
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Nevertheless
- A Memoir
- By: Alec Baldwin
- Narrated by: Alec Baldwin
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most accomplished and outspoken actors today chronicles the highs and lows of his life in this beautifully written, candid memoir.
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Embarrassingly petty
- By Stacey Robinson on 09-20-18
By: Alec Baldwin
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Magic Is Dead
- My Journey into the World's Most Secretive Society of Magicians
- By: Ian Frisch
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In the vein of Neil Strauss’ The Game and Joshua Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein comes the fascinating story of one man’s colorful, mysterious, and personal journey into the world of magic and his unlikely invitation into an underground secret society of revolutionary magicians from around the world.
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Not for me.
- By Jason P Aylward on 03-17-19
By: Ian Frisch
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They Call Me Supermensch
- A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock'n'Roll
- By: Shep Gordon
- Narrated by: Shep Gordon
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the course of his legendary career as a manager, an agent, and a producer, Shep Gordon has worked with and befriended some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Alice Cooper to Bette Davis, Raquel Welch to Groucho Marx, Blondie to Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone to Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross to Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef" and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others.
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It's like he's never seen the words before
- By Joe F. on 11-01-17
By: Shep Gordon
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Stories I Only Tell My Friends
- An Autobiography
- By: Rob Lowe
- Narrated by: Rob Lowe
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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A teen idol at 15, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at 20, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences. Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last 25 years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.
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Great Book and Great Story
- By Natalie J. Belle MD on 04-30-11
By: Rob Lowe
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Ladies Who Punch
- The Explosive Inside Story of "The View"
- By: Ramin Setoodeh
- Narrated by: Ramin Setoodeh
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When Barbara Walters launched The View, network executives told her that hosting it would tarnish her reputation. Instead, within 10 years, she’d revolutionized morning TV and made household names of her cohosts: Joy Behar, Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But the daily chat fest didn’t just comment on the news. It became the news. And the headlines barely scratched the surface. Based on unprecedented access, award-winning journalist Ramin Setoodeh takes you backstage where the stars really spoke their minds.
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Please never let this author narrate again! Ever!
- By Sean McCormack on 04-05-19
By: Ramin Setoodeh
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I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can!
- By: Tom Bergeron
- Narrated by: Tom Bergeron
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can!, Tom elaborates on the process by which he is able to sit calmly and patiently, without being distracted, at any time, no matter how hectic, as well as respond quickly (and hilariously) when Marie Osmond faints at his feet on live TV. Haven't seen it? Check it out on YouTube. The man is always in control.
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A wonderful "read"
- By Chrys on 04-29-09
By: Tom Bergeron
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The Last Love Song
- A Biography of Joan Didion
- By: Tracy Daugherty
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 26 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Joan Didion lived a life in the public and private eye with her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, whom she met while the two were working in New York City, when Didion was at Vogue and Dunne was writing for Time. They became wildly successful writing partners when they moved to Los Angeles and cowrote screenplays and adaptations together. Didion is well known for her literary journalistic style in both fiction and nonfiction.
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Riveted for 1591 miles
- By Kaysi12 on 04-11-16
By: Tracy Daugherty
What listeners say about Dilettante
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jesseca Crissey
- 08-16-22
Highly Recommend
Fun listen for anyone who loves NYC or wants to learn more about cultural influencers. Dana does a great job filling readers in on what the publishing world is like and the workings of Condé Nast. His tales of NYC made me miss that wonderful world.
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- Rebholution
- 12-31-23
A New York Story
This is an excellent document of a time in popular culture. For me New york is a character as much as a place in this story. New York City has been and hopefully will continue to be a place where magical encounters happen and culture and status meld with blind luck and hard work…and then…the next thing happens :)
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- Kelsey Webster
- 04-01-22
I don’t even know where to begin
If you have lived in New York, worked in media and are 40/50 it’s impossible not to love this book. I have replayed chapters, laughed out loud, shook my head at the relatability and sad comedy of it all. Magical.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kate Sackas
- 04-07-24
Incredible!
A great listen that I didn't want to end. I wish it had kept going. Excellent story and excellent writing
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- SeeWhy
- 08-25-22
A nostalgic romp through 1990s and 2000s NYC
Dana Brown sprinkled that new-kid-in-town wide-eyed magic about living,hustling, and making it in New York in your 20s. His anecdotes of lavish parties and mingling with the upper echelons of society as an outsider, and working with an imposter syndrome resonated strongly with my own experience as an art museum worker. Having been schooled across the Atlantic from the 1990s to early 2000s, I was surprised and delighted to learn of Brown’s friendship and camaraderie with the late British restaurant critic A A Gill, whose bitingly witty reviews I used to pore over in the Sunday Times. Brown also captured with painful accuracy what it was like to live through the rapid change in the media landscape in the 2010s. I look forward to hear what Dana Brown is up to next!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kirk Green
- 10-19-22
Love, Love, LOVE Dilettante!
As a former radio DJ, I always question an author who voices their book, but I gotta say, Dana Brown was the ONLY one who could do it and was great. I was a SPY magazine subscriber and a VF subscriber, so very fun look at VF and the inner workings. Can’t say enough and highly recommend this book!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Nicholas G. Gomez
- 08-22-22
Dana Brown did not F it up.
A look back at a familiar time through a long lost lens. A must for anyone who enjoyed Grayson Carter’s Vanity Fair.
A marvelously written memoir.
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- lisa ross
- 06-17-22
This book is a total dish 🔥
I could not stop with this book! What a life, what adventures. Gives you a bird’s eye view into a dream life of travel, access, society, film, fashion and more. Dana Brown perfectly encapsulates early 90s NYC. He had fairy dust sprinkled on him and did not squander it. Oh to sit at the foot of Graydon Carter, such wisdom and chutzpah bestowed. I got lost in this world with every turn of the page. Profoundly riveting! Bravo ⭐️
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- L. Barness
- 08-29-22
Left me longing…
Like the author, I too grew up at 350 Madison, starting my career exactly a decade before him as an assistant to the fashion director at Vogue. I too failed the typing test ( 40 words a minute as I very vaguely recall) but slipped in because Sarah Slavin needed to fill that empty seat immediately - timing being everything, I got lucky.
This beautifully written, wonderfully narrated book was a nostalgic trip for me, bringing back a flood of memories that made me ache for those extraordinary times, places and people. A love letter to an era that can never be again, about an almost mythical industry that’s hard to believe ever existed at all (it’s all true- exactly as I remember it)
It’s funny and bitchy, touching and honest- I binged it and hungered for more. Hopefully Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Peacock etc ( one of the behemoths who caused the sad end of this tale) will give me more by making it into a series so I can binge it once more.
Loved it. Thank you Dana Brown.
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- HDC
- 10-06-23
Fantastic story
One of my all-time favorite audio books. Well written, interesting. Remarkable writing. I'm jealous of much of what he did.
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