How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

by Toby Young · first published 2001

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a 2001 memoir by Toby Young about his failed five-year effort to make it in the United States as a contributing editor at Condé Nast Publications' Vanity Fair magazine. The book alternates Young's foibles with his ruminations about the differences in culture and society between the United States and England, and specifically between New York City and London. The book depicts Young's relationship with various British and American journalists, including Julie Burchill, Anthony Haden-Guest, Tina Brown and Harold Evans (who at one point threatens to sue him) and Vanity Fair's own Graydon Carter. Young also describes awkward run-ins with American celebrities including Nathan Lane, Mel Gibson and Diana Ross.

Summary: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Year page:

2001