First published 2025
Laurence Leamer examines Andy Warhol and the ten women he transformed into his "superstars" between 1964 and 1968. The New York Times bestselling author of Capote's Women investigates how Warhol manipulated Jane Holzer, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, Ultra Violet, Viva, Brigid Berlin, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet, Mary Woronov, and Candy Darling for his art and social status. Leamer shows how these women abandoned their previous lives for Manhattan's Factory scene, where sex was casual, drugs flowed freely, and Warhol treated everyone as replaceable. The artist gave several new names, exploited their beauty and talent, then discarded them one by one. The book follows their stories through Warhol's underground films like The Chelsea Girls, The Nude Restaurant, and Blue Movie, culminating in the June 1968 shooting that nearly killed him. Leamer offers readers an inside look at both the complex women who inspired Warhol's work and the dangerous dynamics of 1960s counterculture that forever changed America.
Genres: art, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: exploitation, manipulation
Setting: Manhattan, The Factory, The Chelsea Girls, The Nude Restaurant, Blue Movie
Period: 1964-1968
336 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: drug-use, sexual-content