A Cultural History of Fame

From antiquity to today, human culture has always been obsessed with fame, infamy, and celebrity. Fame is essential to history itself, distilling what a culture remembers of the past, celebrates as significant in the present, and bequeaths as cultural memory to the future. From emperors to film stars, from literary works to religious relics, and from natural catastrophes to scientific breakthroughs, fame is defined by cultural visibility and is created, communicated, and consumed through media and representation. A Cultural History of Fame examines the concept of fame and its manifestations - in ideas, places, artefacts, and people - across the last 3000 years.

The work is divided into 6 volumes, with each volume covering the same topics, so readers can either study a period/volume or follow a topic across history. The volumes are:

1. A Cultural History of Fame in Antiquity
2. A Cultural History of Fame in the Medieval Age
3. A Culture History of Fame in the Renaissance
4. A Cultural History of Fame in the Age of Enlightenment
5. A Cultural History of Fame in the Age of Revolution
6. A Cultural History of Fame in the Modern Age

Themes (and chapter titles) are: the communication of fame; the arts, philosophy and attention; politics, leadership and power; religion, spirituality, and immortality; the visibility of events, places and things; infamy and scandal; innovation, science and its public expression; the construction and presentation of heroes.

The page extent for the pack is approximately 1536pp. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors and an Introduction and concludes with Notes, Bibliography, and an Index.

The Cultural Histories Series
A Cultural History of Fame is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).

• Publication date: 20 February 2025
• Dimensions: Height 252 mm; Width 174 mm; Thickness 108 mm
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Multiple-component retail product
• ISBN-13: 9781350072596