Product Description

What does "Big Brother" tell us about Athenian democracy? What does the fate of Achilles say about the death of Ayrton Senna? Do pop stars sell their souls to the devil? Why does anyone want to be famous? And why do we want them to be? We're told that we're celebrity-obsessed. But are we? When we elevate mere mortals to the status of gods, is this a new disease, or a more ancient instinct? Throughout history we have defined ourselves with reference to famous people and allowed them to exercise a strange power over us. But we have power over them too. Whether they are renowned for their intelligence, beauty, valor, athletic prowess or artistic genius, or even nothing in particular, they have always been at our mercy: We can give them glory and take it away. Has fame changed? And is our fascination with it really such a bad thing? Tom Payne expertly surveys deities and divas through the ages to answer these puzzling questions and many more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #253154 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
Payne draws easily on the classical world and its myths and rituals to illuminate the celebrity deifications of our modern era...It's like reading Grazia, but feels as worthy as memorising Homer. And for those those who are befuddled, bemused or outraged by our celebrity culture, this is a useful primer... brisk and amusing - Daily Telegraph

Payne explains these and other ideas with tremendous gusto, humour, and many flashes of self-knowing irony…there is also something strangely satisfying in seeing the theories of learned classists used to explain the fate of rock stars and other assorted pin-ups of popular culture…Fame is a good read. - The Observer, Mary Beard

Payne’s wonderfully witty and erudite study of modern fame - Sunday Times, Christopher Hart

eccentric and erudite - Metro, Claire Allfree

Review
FAME is set to do for classics what Harry Mount's much-lauded 'Amo, Amas, Amat ... and All That' achieved for Latin in 2006 - the updating of a fusty subject for a modern audience

Review
Good fun...Payne invokes art, literature, religion, politics and sport to make many perceptive points