CHOURA: The Memoirs of Alexandra Danilova (Knopf, 1986). Winner of the de la Torre Bueno Prize for best dance book of the year.
“‘Crammed with delicious and revealing anecdotes…. ‘Choura”’ is a classic – perfect for anyone who loves dance.” –Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times Book Review
From Library Journal: “Danilova has a critical eye and excellent memory; her comments on her personal and working relationships with Diaghilev, Balanchine, Massine, et al. are analytical, informative, and rarely gossipy…. An enjoyable remembrance.”
“GIRLFRIEND: Men, Women and Drag” with photographs by Michael James O’Brien (Random House, 1999). Named by The New York Times Book Review as one of the 50 Most Notable Books of the Year.
From Amazon.com: “Whereas a less sensitive author might present this material as a revue of freaks, her combination of fashion savvy and sympathetic objectivity makes Girlfriend a captivating travelogue filled with interesting people we want to know better, including J. Alexander, an six-foot-three African American expatriate in Paris who gives femininity lessons to runway models; and Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who recounts fleeing from the Nazi police in wartime Berlin.”
From Kirkus Reviews: “A lively and eye-opening look at drag scenes around the world…. Attuned to the power of the visual in modern life, Brubach proves an astute reporter on men’s bid for womanly beauty.”
Briefly noted in The New Yorker: “In this globetrotting tour of the drag scene from Bangkok to Berlin, Brubach’s chapters read like a series of super-smart postcards, explaining drag as ‘a lexicon of mannerisms’ while also musing on the questions of gender role and stereotype it so provocatively raises.”
“A DEDICATED FOLLOWER OF FASHION” (Phaidon Press, 1999).
“Her mission, in gathering between hard covers a selection of essays she wrote for The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, is to signify the ins and outs of fashion as essential guideposts to human behavior…. As a series of spot-checks on the ‘vanity, love, greed, snobbery, sex and other fun subjects’ that mirror our collective obsessions, it’s pure theater, as entertaining as it is distressing and as cutthroat as it is consoling.” –Linda Yablonsky, the New York Observer
“READING DANCE: A Gathering of Memoirs, Reportage, Criticism, Profiles, Interviews, and Some Uncategorizable Extras” by Robert Gottlieb, editor (Knopf, 2009)
Two essays–on Balanchine’s “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2” and Paul Taylor’s choreography–and excerpts from “Choura” included in “an important collection and a treasure chest for dance aficionados” (Publishers Weekly).
“DRAWING FASHION” by Holly Brubach, Colin McDowell, and Joelle Chariau (Prestel, 2010)
An essay accompanying the catalogue for an exhibition of fashion illustration at the Design Museum, in London.
“EVE’S HOLLYWOOD” by Eve Babitz. Foreword by Holly Brubach (New York Review Books, 2015)
The foreword to a new edition of Eve Babitz’s first novel, originally published in 1974 and out of print for many years, now made available again as part of the New York Review Books Classics series.