The best memoirs set on the East End strip away the gloss to reveal a place shaped as much by fishermen and farmers as by the artists, writers and billionaires. These authors go past the glitzy party photos to show how the region was shaped in a myriad of ways. Behind the beach clubs, the perfectly trimmed hedges and sun-soaked houses is a Hamptons far more layered than its postcard version. Whether you’re interested in the lives of artists like Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Ina Garten’s path to becoming the Barefoot Contessa, Truman Capote’s high-society circles or the lesser-known stories of locals who watched the region change throughout the years, you’ll find in these books a richer and more nuanced portrait of one of America’s most mythologized stretches of coastline.
‘In the Hamptons’ by Dan Rattiner
‘Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer’ by John Glynn
‘Philistines at the Hedgerow’ by Steven Gaines
‘Be Ready When the Luck Happens’ by Ina Garten
‘Jackson Pollock: An American Saga’ by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
‘Lee Krasner: A Biography’ by Gail Levin
‘Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up’ by Bob Colacello
‘The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History’ by Ricky Lauren
‘The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in America’s Paradise’ by Corey Dolgon
‘In the Hamptons’ by Dan Rattiner
Dan Rattiner has spent decades chronicling the East End as a local newspaperman and founder of the well-known Dan’s Papers. This memoir draws on that vantage point to trace the region’s transformation from a quiet farming and fishing community into a magnet for the ultra-wealthy. His tales are as amusing as they are insightful, offering a glimpse into the close-knit community of locals who populate the colorful region.
‘In the Hamptons’ by Dan Rattiner.
Crown
‘Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer’ by John Glynn
Named Best LGBTQ Book of 2019 by O, the Oprah Magazine, and featuring a blurb by the author of ‘Call Me By Your Name,’ Glynn’s debut memoir follows a single summer in a Montauk share house when the author was 27 years old. It highlights pivotal moments surrounding beginnings, endings and realizations of life and love. It’s more of a coming-of-age and coming out story than a portrait of the area, but set amidst beautiful beach bonfires and Montauk in peak summer.
‘Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer’ by John Glynn.
Grand Central Publishing
‘Philistines at the Hedgerow’ by Steven Gaines
Equal parts social history and gossip, the book helpfully provides a definition of the Hamptons, and animates a history dating back to the 1600s. The author profiles 15 different figures who have resided in the Hamptons to capture the East End’s particular brand of glamour. The colorful Hamptonites portrayed include Steven Spielberg, Calvin Klein, Martha Stewart and others. More of a guidebook than a personal memoir, it is a fascinating glimpse into the eccentric characters, their parties and feuds.
‘Philistines at the Hedgerow’ by Steven Gaines.
Little Brown Paperbacks
‘Be Ready When the Luck Happens’ by Ina Garten
Written by the host of the popular cooking show Barefoot Contessa, where Ina Garten got her moniker, this heartfelt memoir is an inside look into a path from a difficult childhood to owning a specialty food store in the Hamptons. Garten has lived there since the ’90s, and her recently published memoir traces decades of reinvention and risk-taking as much as stories on food. Her cookbooks have sold millions of copies, and while the memoir offers insights into her story, it’s also full of deeply resonant life lessons.
‘Be Ready When the Luck Happens’ by Ina Garten.
Crown
‘Jackson Pollock: An American Saga’ by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
Widely regarded as the definitive Pollock biography and a Pulitzer Prize winner, this book follows Pollock and Lee Krasner’s 1945 move to Springs and the rural landscape that helped birth his breakthrough drip paintings. It details the lucky visit with Peggy Guggenheim that brought attention to Pollock’s work, but also the turbulent moments that led to his untimely death. The book is rich with detail about their house, their neighbors and the tight-knit art colony that sprang up around them in the Hamptons. It is said this book largely inspired the film ‘Pollock’ (2000).
‘Jackson Pollock: An American Saga’ by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.
Bl Rankings Llc
‘Lee Krasner: A Biography’ by Gail Levin
Lee Krasner’s life and work are just as important, and this biography shines a light on her life beyond her marriage to Jackson Pollock. It additionally offers an even fuller picture of their daily life in Springs, widening the lens to the broader circle of Abstract Expressionists who gathered around East Hampton, including Willem and Elaine De Kooning. The book is deeply researched by the author, who apparently knew Krasner in her later years, and is able to paint an excellent portrait of an artist in the shadows.
‘Lee Krasner: A Biography’ by Gail Levin.
William Morrow
‘Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up’ by Bob Colacello
Written by a longtime insider at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, this memoir is said to be the best biography of the artist. It includes vivid chapters on Montauk summers and the celebrity house parties that defined the Hamptons social scene of the late 1970s and ’80s. At 700 pages, the book might feel daunting, but Colacello’s proximity to Warhol gives the book an intimacy that surpasses any other accounts of Warhol’s life and art, balancing biography and art history perfectly.
‘Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up’ by Bob Colacello.
Vintage
‘Capote’ by Gerald Clarke
Much is known already about the author of ‘In Cold Blood’ and ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’ Gerald Clarke’s biography covers Truman Capote’s years mingling with high society in Southampton and East Hampton alongside the wealthy women he nicknamed his “Swans,” the same women who would later inspire much of his unfinished final work. This biography offers a rare inside view of elite Hamptons social life from the 1950s through the 1970s, but also frames the area as a writer’s refuge. Away from the bustling city life of New York, writers like Harper Lee and Capote (who were friends) found solace and writing space in the Hamptons.
‘Capote’ by Gerald Clarke.
Simon & Schuster
‘The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History’ by Ricky Lauren
Wife of Ralph Lauren, Ricky Lauren draws on her family’s beach house in Amagansett to offer a seaside-lifestyle book built around more than 100 recipes, entertaining tips and reflections on the region’s artistic legacy. Featuring original photography and family snapshots, it’s a warmer, more domestic entry point into Hamptons life than the social histories and biographies elsewhere on this list.
‘The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History’ by Ricky Lauren.
Harvest
‘The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in America’s Paradise’ by Corey Dolgon
Winner of the 2005 Book Prize from the Association for Humanist Sociology, Dolgon’s book looks past the celebrity tales to tell a more contentious story: the displacement of Native Americans and the environmental and labor conflicts that continue to shape the region today. The book is an important attempt to document stories that have remained invisible and below the surface.
‘The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in America’s Paradise’ by Corey Dolgon
NYU Press
