Dead Famous

Reviewed on 25th June 2023

I picked this book up after listening to Greg Jenner’s history podcast, and having enjoyed those thought the same might be true here.

The book is a history of celebrity, as a concept but told through the stories of various famous people throughout the past few centuries, and occasionally earlier.

I found it to be much more academic than I was expecting. I felt frequently like I should be taking notes, or referring back to notes I hadn’t taken to understand the context of something. The story isn’t linear, and Jenner moves in and out of many characters lives throughout, and I found quite difficult to follow who was who.

As a result I found the book slow going - certainly much more so than the fiction I’ve been reading around it. Although the tone of voice clearly matches what I’m used to from the radio, the pacing does not.