Happier, Stupider Times: Anthony Bourdain’s Provincetown Years

“I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life, as a dishwasher.”

Anthony Bourdain arrived in 1970s Provincetown with big ideas about becoming a writer and zero experience working in kitchens. Then he started washing dishes and quickly fell in with “the pirate elite”—the cooks, artists, and partiers who defined the anything-goes lifestyle of summers in P-town. 

Happier, Stupider Times is a sunwashed trip to the place and time that shaped Bourdain’s formative years, from the fishermen at the port to the culinary traditions and swashbuckling nightlife. 

Including:

• An introduction by Tony director Matt Johnson
• Maps, menus, and rarely seen ephemera from iconic Provincetown establishments 
• Original recipes for local dishes like Portuguese kale soup and Cape Cod clam bakes
• Artwork and photographs by the artists who lived there
• Plus never-before-seen images of Bourdain and his crew
  

Publisher: A24
Page Count: 216pp
Size: 7.75 x 10
Notes: hardcover, color
Date of Publication: August 19, 2026
ISBN: 978-1960078513