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The Memoirs That Reveal the Hamptons Behind the Hedges

These books offer a rich and nuanced portrait of one of America’s most mythologized stretches of coastline.

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

'Capote' by Gerald Clarke

'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........

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