Even as Pop Art became synonymous with Andy Warhol's name and dominated the public's image of him, his life and work have remained more complex and multi-faceted than his Campbell's Soup cans and subversive images of celebrities. In this monumental biography, Blake Gopnik follows Warhol from his working-class Pittsburgh upbringing as the child of immigrants to his early career in commercial art to his total immersion in the "performance" of being an artist. The Warhol that emerges is kind yet manipulative, a cerebral artist who loved kitsch, and a faithful churchgoer who embraced sensuality and worldliness.

"An epic cradle-to-grave biography of the king of pop art…. A fascinating, major work."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)