Factory Made

Steven Watson has written the best imaginable book on the Sixties of Andy Warhol's Silver Factory, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, and the appropriation by mainstream culture of the underground avant-garde. Based on the testimony of those who were part of it, those who were not there can now know exactly what it was like, without having to pay the price of having to live through it. And since the end of the Silver Factory coincides with the near-fatal attempt on Warhol's life in 1968, the book has the narrative drive of an unfolding tragedy. The research is impeccable, the spirit of the book is open and sympathetic, and the writing is as witty as it is clear. A marvelous achievement. <br>--Arthur C. Danto<br><br> Factory Made, an encyclopedic act of cultural memory, is as wide-angled, as sympathetic, as polyphonic, and as entertaining an account of Warhol's 1960s as we're likely to get. Watson's emphasis on collaborative artistic practices offers an eye-opening antidote to the usual Andy-centered approach. <br>--Wayne Koestenbaum<br><br> Although Andy Warhol's famous movies are among the most boring ever made, this book about them is endlessly fascinating. <br>--John Richardson<br><br> Steven Watson's history of Andy Warhol's Silver Factory years is a riveting mosaic that captures a moment in the New York art world when cultural change was accelerating at the speed of light. The book sustains an atmosphere of tremendous suspense as, one after another, Warhol's 'superstars' are born, flash, and burn out, and the wild party peopled with speed freaks, drag queens, and exhibitionists spins out of control. In casting a wide cultural net this entertaining history encompasses Pop Art, experimental film, and the birth of the Play-House of the Ridiculous, connecting these movements and making sense of it all in a way that no other book has done. Factory Made is a masterly achievement. <br>--Stephen Holden