Happier, Stupider Times: Anthony Bourdain’s Provincetown Years

Happier, Stupider Times is published to coincide with the release of Matt Johson’s movie Tony, a coming of age profile of renegade chef Anthony Bourdain.

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. 

The book includes:

• Maps, menus, and rarely seen ephemera from iconic Provincetown establishments
• Original recipes for local dishes such as 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

A24, 220pp, 20cm x 25cm, illustrated hardcover, 2026