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Book Cover for: The Drama of Celebrity, Sharon Marcus

The Drama of Celebrity

Sharon Marcus

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A bold new account of how celebrity works

Why do we care so much about celebrities? Who decides who gets to be a star? Do celebrities deserve the outsized attention they receive? Sharon Marcus challenges everything you thought you knew about our obsession with fame. Drawing on scrapbooks, diaries, and vintage fan mail, she traces celebrity culture back to its nineteenth-century roots, when people the world over found themselves captivated by celebrity chefs, bad-boy poets, and actors such as the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt, as famous in her day as the Beatles in theirs. The Drama of Celebrity reveals how journalists, the public, and celebrities themselves all compete to shape the stories we tell about celebrities and fans, resulting in a high-stakes drama as endless as it is unpredictable.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • Publish Date: Aug 11st, 2020
  • Pages: 328
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.90in - 5.20in - 1.20in - 0.65lb
  • EAN: 9780691210186
  • Categories: Media StudiesPopular CultureSocial History

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About the Author

Sharon Marcus is the Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She is a founding editor of Public Books and the author of the award-winning Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England (Princeton). Twitter @MarcusSharon

More books by Sharon Marcus

Book Cover for: Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England, Sharon Marcus
Book Cover for: Apartment Stories: City and Home in 19th Century Paris and London, Sharon Marcus

Critics’ reviews