The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Celebrity

Volume IV, Number 1 | winter 2011

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Preamble

Dancing with the Stars

By Lewis H. Lapham

The vanity of princes is an old story; so is the wish for kings and the gazing into the pool of Narcissus.

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Photograph of P.T. Barnum., 1855-1865.

Hatching Monsters

By Charles Baxter

Lessons in fame from P.T. Barnum’s autobiography.

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Famous adventurers, entertainers, geniuses, and outlaws.

Map

Hall of Famers

Famous adventurers, entertainers, geniuses, and outlaws.

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1838 | London

Tabloids

Fodder for the masses.More

1875 | Hartford

Bright Ambition

Mark Twain’s shining star.More

63 BC | Rome

Triumph

Pompey returns the favor.More

Charts & Graphs

Decline and Fall

David Hasselhoff works hard for the money.

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American showman P.T. Barnum.

French critic Roland Barthes.

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Canadian writer Stephen Marche.

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

American writer Tad Friend.

American poet Wallace Stevens.

I won’t be happy till I’m as famous as God.

—Madonna, c. 1985

Charles Dickens & John Lennon

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