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Greg Jenner

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen

Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen

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Celebrity has been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for longer than we might realize, from Lord Byron to Sarah Bernhardt to Edmund Kean. In this ambitious history, Greg Jenner assembles a vibrant cast of over 125 actors, singers, dancers, sportspeople, freaks, demigods,ruffians, and more to explore its historical roots and the psychological burden stardom can place on those in the glaring limelight.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 19 August 2021
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co


Celebrity, with its neon glow and selfie pout, strikes us as hypermodern. But the famous and infamous have been thrilling, titillating, and outraging us for much longer than we might realize. Whether it was the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; or Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor whose monstrous ego and terrible alcoholism saw him nearly murdered by his own audience - the list of stars whose careers burned bright before the Age of Television is extensive and thrillingly varied.

In this ambitious history, spanning the Bronze Age to the coming of Hollywood's Golden Age, Greg Jenner assembles a vibrant cast of over 125 actors, singers, dancers, sportspeople, freaks, demigods,ruffians, and more, in search of celebrity's historical roots. He reveals why celebrity burst into life in the early eighteenth century, how it differs to ancient ideas of fame, the techniques through which it was acquired, how it was maintained, the effect it had on public tastes, and the psychological burden stardom could place on those in the glaring limelight.

DEAD FAMOUS is a surprising, funny, and fascinating exploration of both a bygone age and how we came to inhabit our modern, fame-obsessed society.

Weight: 320g
Dimension: 128 x 198 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781780225661

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