Self-made

Isabella, Burton, Tara

£10.99

In the twenty-first century, our defining celebrities have crafted public personae that walk the tightrope between authenticity and artificiality. Ordinary people have followed suit: lovingly tending our ‘personal brands’. But today’s self-creators are hardly new. Rather, the ruling idea that we not only can – but should – ‘make’ our own selves, curate our own image and shape our own destiny, is an inextricable part of the post-Enlightenment world: where the power of aristocracy and religion gave way to the triumph of the individual and the myth of the self-made man. From the Renaissance genius to the Regency dandy, the American prophets of capitalism to the European obsession with the superman, the Golden Age of Hollywood to Silicon Valley, this book takes us on a dizzying tour of modern history’s most prominent self-makers.

Out of stock

Publish Date: 08/02/2024

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.

Additional information

Weight 200 g
Dimensions 196 × 128 × 22 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

288

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

155.2 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K