About the Book

From 2017 to 2019, I worked with the legend Daniel ‘Dapper Dan’ Day to shape his epic life story into a book, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem. Spanning seven decades of history, creativity, struggle, and achievement, Dap’s memoir was published by Random House in July 2019, debuting on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list and later named one of Vanity Fair’s best books of the year.

Blurbs & Reviews

‘A fantastic and cinematic writer’— Phoebe Robinson

‘A grand raconteur.’—Margo Jefferson

‘It’s easy now to take for granted the trail [Dapper Dan] blazed…Detailed descriptions of his family’s tragic journey through poverty, the changing nature of his beloved and cursed neighborhood, and his adventures as a hustler are riveting.’—Nelson George, The New York Times

‘[The story of a] remarkable and unlikely evolution . . . an intriguing and twisty tale about the hustle and the hustler, and it is eloquently and engagingly told . . . There is a profound vulnerability in Day’s story and a striking self-awareness as he recounts both his successes and failures as a man, father, son, brother, husband, and entrepreneur. In the end, [this book] is, like him, an inspiration.’—Maiysha Kai, The Root