A Short History of Celebrity

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-691-13562-5
Verlag: PRINCETON UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 322 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 590 g

Love it or hate it, celebrity is one of the dominant features of modern life--and one of the least understood. Fred Inglis sets out to correct this problem in this entertaining and enlightening social history of modern celebrity, from eighteenth-century London to today's Hollywood. Vividly written and brimming with fascinating stories of figures whose lives mark important moments in the history of celebrity, this book explains how fame has changed over the past two-and-a-half centuries. Starting with the first modern celebrities in mid-eighteenth-century London, including Samuel Johnson and the Prince Regent, the book traces the changing nature of celebrity and celebrities through the age of the Romantic hero, the European fin de siècle, and the Gilded Age in New York and Chicago. In the twentieth century, the book covers the Jazz Age, the rise of political celebrities such as Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, and the democratization of celebrity in the postwar decades, as actors, rock stars, and sports heroes became the leading celebrities. Arguing that celebrity is a mirror reflecting some of the worst as well as some of the best aspects of modern history itself, Inglis considers how the lives of the rich and famous provide not only entertainment but also social cohesion and, like morality plays, examples of what--and what not--to do. This book will interest anyone who is curious about the history that lies behind one of the great preoccupations of our lives.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Inglis, Fred

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements ix

Part I: Fame and Feeling

Chapter 1: The Performance of Celebrity 3

Chapter 2: A Very Short History of the Feelings 19

Part II: The Rise of Celebrity: A Three-Part Invention

Chapter 3: The London-Brighton Road, 1760-1820 37

Chapter 4: Paris: Haute Couture and the Painting of Modern Life 74

Chapter 5: New York and Chicago: Robber Barons and the Gossip Column, 1880-1910 108

Part III: The Past in the Present

Chapter 6: The Geography of Recognition: Celebrity on Its Holidays 135

Chapter 7: The Great Dictators 158

Chapter 8: The Stars Look Down: The Democratisation of Celebrity 187

Chapter 9: From Each According to His Ability: Sport, Rock, Fashion, and the Self 217

Chapter 10: Stories We Tell Ourselves about Ourselves 247 Envoi: Cherishing Citizens 270

Notes 289

List of Illustrations 303

Index 305

Über Autor(innen)

Inglis, Fred
Fred Inglis is Honorary Professor of Cultural History at the University of Warwick and a former member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author of more than twenty books, including "The Cruel Peace: Everyday Life in the Cold War" (Basic).