Cult of Celebrity: What Our Fascination With The Stars Reveals About Us

By Cooper Lawrence

Book Overview

America's fast-growing religion is--let's face it--celebrity worship. From gossip magazines to entertainment TV, from blogs to ads featuring famous faces, the stars are our new gods and goddesses. But... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1599213354
• ISBN13: 9781599213354
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Skirt!
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining

Being a therapist and having an interest in the celebrity world, I decided to read this book. I'm glad I did. I found it very entertaining and gained a lot of insight into the celebrity world. To me this was just a fun book. I didn't read it as something I would use for research. I don't quite understand why the low scores. What were people expecting? It's just basic information on why we're so fascinated with celebrities and the psychology behind it. It's light reading for fun, as far as I was concerned.

an interesting read

This book is a compelling critique of the celebrity-obsessed subculture that has permeated American life, with some sobering thoughts about why so many people, especially emerging adults, have lost their focus on what is really important and why their goals are simply "to be famous". This book is great for any student of pop culture and psychology. Parents of teenage children will especially benefit from the interesting explanation of why their daughters and sons prefer US Weekly to The Economist. The author shines a spotlight on why something called "the illusion of intimacy" makes us feel closer to our favorite celebrity -not to mention the constant access we have to them on the web- and how this intimacy translates into our buying products they endorse, and spending our hard earned cash on their films, and other merchandise. This book is written with humor yet is well-researched and offers an intriguing explanation of why the cult of celebrity has us in its grips. I strongly recommend it as an interesting read.

a fun and informative read!

This book is a fun read about celeb and you get a little inside scoop. However, my favorite parts were the psycology of celebrity and some of the background of the "fame phenon". I have seen Cooper on a bunch of shows and she has some insightful things to say about the crazy things celebs do. I am surprised about the negative reviews - seriously, this is not being promoted as the great American novel. It delivers on what it is - a pop culture book. People need to chill a little with the negativity.

I give this book a 2 thumbs up!!

This book is a must read if you are interested in pop culture and celebrities. It had me wanting to read more and I found myself laughing out loud! Her insight and knowledge was contagious and I would be lying if I was not fascinated with everything the author had to say about these famous people. Truly, you must get this book and then you will really understand how great it is. I honestly could not put it down.

Great info

As a mother of two preteens I worry about my children's exposure to celebrities and what impact that culture is having on them. This book does a great job at explaining what children are learning through the media and what I can do to guide them through it. The fact that the book is written by a well-known psychologist makes the advice trustworthy. I especially like that the book is loaded with studies and great information!