Debra Lawless

Provincetown Since World War Ii: Carnival at Land's End (American Chronicles) Debra Lawless

Author Debra Lawless completes the history of the charming seaside community of Provincetown, Massachusetts, from the menace of World War II U-boats just offshore to the celebratory destination it has become today. The creative mecca boomed in peacetime with a new generation of artists and writers, including Tennessee Williams, Robert Motherwell and Norman Mailer. Andy Warhol paid for a carton of cigarettes with a signed soup can, while director John Waters wrote six screenplays here. The AIDS crisis of the 1980s and '90s had a grave impact on Provincetown, but the community cared for the sick, supported the suffering and only grew stronger. Once defined by tensions, Provincetown has become one of the country's most vibrant and welcoming gay communities. Explore the artistic paradise and the characters who make up the carnival of life in Provincetown.