Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography

Written by Laurie Woolever

Narrated by Laurie Woolever, Christopher Bourdain, José Andrés and 3 more

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best.

When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fans around the globe came together to celebrate the life of an inimitable man who had dedicated his life to traveling nearly everywhere (and eating nearly everything), shedding light on the lives and stories of others. His impact was outsized and his legacy has only grown since his death.

Now, for the first time, we have been granted a look into Bourdain’s life through the stories and recollections of his closest friends and colleagues. Laurie Woolever, Bourdain’s longtime assistant and confidante, interviewed nearly a hundred of the people who shared Tony’s orbit—from members of his kitchen crews to his writing, publishing, and television partners, to his daughter and his closest friends—in order to piece together a remarkably full, vivid, and nuanced vision of Tony’s life and work. 

From his childhood and teenage days, to his early years in New York, through the genesis of his game-changing memoir Kitchen Confidential to his emergence as a writing and television personality, and in the words of friends and colleagues including Eric Ripert, José Andrés, Nigella Lawson, and W. Kamau Bell, as well as family members including his brother and his late mother, we see the many sides of Tony—his motivations, his ambivalence, his vulnerability, his blind spots, and his brilliance.

Unparalleled in scope and deeply intimate in its execution, with a treasure trove of photos from Tony's life, Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography is a testament to the life of a remarkable man in the words of the people who shared his world.

Featuring the voices of Adam Epstein • Alex Getmanov • Alex Lowry • Alison Mosshart • Amy Entelis • Ben Selkow • Beth Aretsky • Bonnie McFarlane • Chris Collins • Christiane Amanpour • Christopher Bourdain • Daniel Halpern • Dave McMillan • David Choe • David Rosenthal • Diane Schutz • Eileen Opatut • Fred Morin • Helen Cho • Helen Lang • Hilary Snyder • James Graham • Jared Andrukanis • Jason Rezaian • Jeff Allen • Jeff Formosa • Jeff Zucker • Joe Coleman • Joel Rose • John Lurie • José Andrés • Josh Ferrell • Karen Rinaldi • Kimberly Witherspoon • Laurie Barnett • Laurie Woolever • Lenny Mosse • Lizzie Fox • Lolis Elie • Lydia Tenaglia • Maria Bustillos • Matt Goulding • Matt Walsh • Michael Ruhlman • Michael Steed • Mike Ruffino • Morgan Fallon • Mustafa Bhagat • Nari Kye • Natasha Phan • Nathan Thornburgh • Nick Brigden • Nigella Lawson • Panio Gianopoulos • Pat Younge • Patrick Radden Keefe • Patti Jackson • Peter Meehan • Philip Lajaunie • Rennik Soholt • Rob Stone • Robert Vuolo • Robin Standefer • Roy Choi • Sally Freeman • Sam Goldman • Sam Sifton • Sandy Zweig • Shant Petrossian • Steven Tempel • Todd Liebler • Tom Vitale • W. Kamau Bell • Web Stone • Whitney Ward • Yeganeh Rezaian • Aspen Miller • Barbara Rosenblatt • Billie Fulford-Brown • Cheryl Smith • Dan Bittner • Ewan Chung • Gabra Zackman • George Newbern • Hillary Huber • James Lurie • Jason Culp • Jean Brassard • Joe Knezevich • Oliver Wyman • Rob Shapiro • Roger Wayne

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063138704

Laurie Woolever

Laurie Woolever is a writer and editor. She spent nearly a decade assisting Anthony Bourdain, with whom she coauthored the cookbook Appetites and World Travel. She’s written about food and travel for the New York Times, GQ, Food & Wine, Lucky Peach, Saveur, Dissent, Roads & Kingdoms, and others, and has worked as an editor at Art Culinaire and Wine Spectator. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of Care and Feeding and Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography.

Reviews for Bourdain

[smorton11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Since I will never read a new book of Tony's again, this is the next best thing - a comprehensive portrait of the man by those who knew him best. It is, thankfully, not a hagiography - he was no saint. I'm also glad that the focus is not on his death but him as a person and, mostly, the twenty years of his life after Kitchen Confidential. The parts that are "missing" I'm glad are missing - there is nothing from Eric Ripert about his final days and his girlfriend at the time of his death is not included at all. Ariane, his daughter, has the closing reflection of the book, a fitting tribute to her dad. For the past three years we've been searching for his voice as we all navigate through this crazy world and I finally feel like I can stop looking - he's gone, and this book will help everyone appreciate him, but acknowledge that there will never be another like him and for his fans, we just need to take his message, "be a traveler not a tourist" to heart and travel in his memory and finally say goodbye.

[capewood · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2022 book #19. 2021. Read this for my book club. It fails as a biography unless you were already a big fan of Bourdain and had seen all his TV. I hadn't and really knew nothing about him. Seems like a remarkable man but the book lacks a lot of context.

[daumari · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Compiled from interviews with over 90 people across friends, family, and colleagues, Woolever presents a memory mosaic of who Tony Bourdain was: charismatic and sharp, intuitive, perfectionist, addict. Definitely am going to rewatch episodes with some of the behind the scenes in mind... and I actually haven't gotten around to his fiction work, so there's that too. Crushed that he'll never be a grumpy, sage elder.

[cjordan916 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I learned some new stuff, but it was a lot of repeating

[jjbooklvr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking to follow his ascent and then fall leading to his suicide. A must read for fans to try and make any sense of it.

[mrsgrits · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not really sure where to start. This biography was outstanding. It was really interesting to learn from those around Bourdain how he grew up, how he got his start in writing and how his experiences and travel changed the outcome of his life. I got so into the book that by the time I got towards the end I started to get sad knowing what was coming. He lived a full life and definitely left his mark on the world.

[fizzypops-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book was an insult to the reader, to the craft of the biographer, and above all, to Bourdain himself. A shocking attempt to capitalise upon his name and fame. Absolutely no insight whatsoever. A tragedy, portraying another tragedy.

[narshkite · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is just so beautiful and enlightening and such a loving warts and all story. I resisted reading this for a long time because I thought it would be a hagiography, and it is not. Bourdain was a brilliant and fascinating person, but also a deeply flawed one. He was a person of contrasts: a narcissist and and empath, a control freak and a relentless risk-taker, a man emotionally stunted within his own life who could. when he chose, see inside people's minds and hearts with shocking clarity. Bourdain could be cruel and difficult and generous and loving, responsible and irresponsible, and a thousand other things. Many of the people who loved him spent some time hating him too, and with good reason.

Bourdain was unlike anyone else before or since. I watch very little TV, but I watched all his series with my child. He brought us the world modeling how to move through the world as a thoughtful ally and a constant learner who respected people and cultures and largely succeeded in observing without judging. It was always clear that he did not consider himself and expert on anything, that he was a sponge for input. Who could have known that a recovering heroin addict who smoked and drank incessantly would be the one person on TV I wanted my child to emulate just a little (not in those ways, of course.) This book gave me a greater understanding of who he was and how those shows happened. Fascinating. But my heart is no less broken after reading it.

And speaking of heartbreak ... for those that are wondering, the book makes clear that Bourdain's suicide was his choice, his "fault." That said, Asia Argento found a broken person and seemingly intentionally pushed him as far as she could just to see what would happen. She comes off as a psychopath. One person says that Tony Bourdain did not allow his heart to break when she publicly threw his love in his face and humiliated him. The speaker guesses that if Bourdain had allowed himself to experience the pain of a broken heart and a touch of public embarrassment that he would still be alive. His heart would have broken and he would have healed, as do we all. He made a choice to stop the heartbreak in its tracks instead. What a terrible decision for himself, his family, his friends, and really the world.