Bockris' book is probably essential if you're interested in Warhol's life. It's crammed with details and covers the whole spectrum.

But the book as a whole reads more like an extensive collection of notes than as a biography. Bockris gathers details but doesn't synthesize them. There's no big picture, and little narrative. And the writing...well, it could've used a better editor, or at least a proofreader.

The flaws aren't fatal, but there's plenty of room out there for a smarter, snappier bio of one of America's seminal artists. ( )

warhol's art and his life was a mirror of american cultural from post ww2 to the 21st century. self absored, counsumerism, the mad men world. he was both an artist and a lover of the good life. He found new avenues of creating art, he opened up how we as a cultural look at art. clearly one of the most important artist of the 20th century. a complex man that lived a world of chaos, chaos that he loved and created. yet in the end I see him as a sad and lonely man, perhaps like america ( )

a very readable and enjoyable bio on Andy Warhol ( )