Prompt – A book with a great opening line.
Medium – Book
About the Book – Greg Jenner, who is a public historian, the historical consultant for ‘Horrible Histories’ and the presenter of podcast ‘You’re Dead to Me’ explores the ways in which the ideas of celebrity have been publicised and evolved since Jenner’s first identification of a ‘celebrity’ – surprisingly, a priest by the name of Dr Henry Sacheverell – to the 1930s (ish). The book starts with the tale of a truly remarkable, if problematic celebrity by the name of Edmund Kean and ends with the epilogue focusing on the ‘celebrity president’ Donald Trump, and the relatively new trend for Influencers. The book isn’t your usual ‘history book’ – there are plenty of jokes, funny stories and the book is written in a really informal tone, which makes you feel as though you are listening to Greg’s supremely funny podcast.
My Rating – 9/10. This book has been one of my favourite history books so far this year. Funny, but also engaging, it was the sort of book I could read for pleasure, but did need a fresh and clear mind for – hence taking a while longer to read. I really enjoyed the way that the author weaved the stories together – he doesn’t take a traditional chronological viewpoint on the history, but instead writes in themes – such as the emergence of fandom, the celebrity body and the financial reward that goes along with being a celebrity.
Jenner writes in a really clear and accessible way, covering both the desirable and undesirable parts of fame. One of the stories which really stuck with me was the horrible story of Evelyn Nesbit, the young (extremely young) model who was part of two violent and highly problematic relationships, which led to the ‘trial of the century’. On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the story of the music hall sisters who would sing the song ‘Would you like to see my pussy?’, before raising their skirts to show a set of kittens in each of their pairs of knickers. This is a fun book, and I thoroughly recommend it. The only reason that I have marked it down one point is because I believe some of the stories are a bit curtailed (I would like to have found out what happened in the end to Evelyn Nesbit), but on the other hand I do understand that the wealth of information available in this book means that things being left out are inevitable.
Would I read it again? It’s going back on the shelf, my mum is borrowing it next time she comes around and dad’s in the queue after her, so probably!
Jen's Book Blog 