IN THE SHADOW OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Few artists in the late twentieth century have captured the emotional, sexual, and political chaos of urban life as well as David Wojnarowicz. In the Shadow of the American Dream chronicles Wojnarowicz's life from age seventeen until his AIDS-related death at thirty-seven. An introspective writer and a radical artist, Wojnarowicz unequivocally defied bigotry even as he became a target for the right wing.Wojnarowicz's diaries tell the story of his emergence as an artist and writer, from when he published his first photographs and began writing what would become The Waterfront Journals, to his traveling through Europe as a renowned painter and completing his tour de force, Close to the Knives. In the Shadow of the American Dream is, finally, a record of the private Wojnarowicz, falling in love for the first time, exploring erotic possibilities on the Hudson River piers, becoming overwhelmed by the demands of survival, and searching for the pleasure and freedom he believed in.

David Wojnarowicz (1955-1992)-painter, photographer, filmmaker, performance artist, AIDS activist-was the author of Close to the Knives, The Waterfront Journals, and Memories that Smell like Gasoline.