Self-Made
Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
'We're all now self-makers, whether we like it or not - and this witty, sceptical book is the thought-provoking story of how we got here'
GUARDIAN
'A fast-moving train of a book'
NEW YORK TIMES
'Gripping'
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'Funny, startling . . . a must read'
PETER POMERANTSEV, author of This Is Not Propaganda
'Revelatory'
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, author of The Origins of Political Order
As the forces of social media and capitalism collide, cultivating our 'personal brands' has become the norm. But this phenomenon is not new: Instagram culture is part of a story that goes back centuries.
From the Renaissance genius to the Regency dandy, Hollywood's Golden Age to today's Silicon Valley and reality TV stars, Self-Made takes us on a dazzling tour of modern history's most prominent self-makers, uncovering both self-making's liberatory power, and the dangers this idea can unleash.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this wide-ranging survey, Burton (Strange Rites) traces the idea of the charismatic "self-made" person through its evolution from the advent of the printing press to the age of social media. Profiling Thomas Edison, Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and other zeitgeist-influencers, Burton demonstrates how their genius at marketing highly curated versions of themselves often obscured or ignored elements that didn't fit the narrative, and describes the need for self-invention as a quest to become a "god" where "artificiality and authenticity meet." Renaissance artist and printmaker Albrecht Dürer made his attempt literal, boldly inserting his own image to represent Jesus in his art. Men dominate the first portion of the analysis, but easing social restrictions in the 20th century led to the rise of self-made women. Actor Clara Bow's celebrated "It" factor launched a fervor to capture that elusive, mesmerizing quality on cinema screens and in increasingly lucrative advertising. Through each era, technology has remained a crucial component in allowing tastemakers to shape their personas and spread their self-promotional messages. With clarity and authority, Burton sheds light on how the self-made indulge in the profitable "fantasy of selling yourself" and provide an escape from reality for their followers. It's an eye-opener. (Jun.)
