A former People magazine editor reveals how our cult of celebrity has shaped our politics, our culture, and our personal lives—for better or worse
From the writer and editor who coined the term “baby boomer” comes Celebrity Nation, an exploration into how and why fame no longer stems only from heroic achievements but from the number of “likes” and shares—and what this change means for American culture. Landon Jones—who spent decades in “celebrityland” only to emerge, like Alice, blinking in the sunlight—brings a personal and first-person perspective on fame and its dark underbelly, complicated even further by the arrival of the internet and social media.
Jones draws on his experience as the former managing editor of People magazine to bolster his account with profiles of celebrities he knew personally, ranging from Malcolm X to Princess Diana, as well as observations about contemporary social media stars like Kim Kardashian and computer-generated macro-influencer Miquela, a self-proclaimed “19-year-old Robot living in LA.” In analyzing the stories of over 75 celebrities, spanning decades and industries, Jones shows how celebrity has been wielded as a weapon of mass distraction to spawn narcissism, harm, and loneliness.
And yet, in these stories we also see a path forward. Jones highlights luminaries like Nobel Peace prize winner Maria Ressa and lauded environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who have effected meaningful change not by glorifying themselves but by turning to their communities for action. A lively analysis of celebrity culture’s impact on nearly every facet of our lives, Celebrity Nation helps us to recognize how the apparatus of fame operates.
“A disquieting, well-researched exploration of the celebrity phenomenon and its consequences for our society.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Jones is an astute chronicler of celebrity culture.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A well-researched, astute examination of the blurred lines between heroes and celebrities. The book’s narrative and plot points are immensely readable.”
—Library Journal
“Others have—and will—explore this topic in more depth, but Jones’s clear-eyed, often rueful take on the phenomenon is an excellent starting point.”
—Shelf Awareness
“A triumph of human insight into an all-too-often inhuman institution that can become a mortal threat to celebrities themselves.”
—The Milken Review
“An irresistibly readable history and critique of our vertiginous celebrity culture.”
—Joyce Carol Oates, author of Blonde
“As one of the founding editors at People, Lanny Jones helped chronicle and invent the rise of celebrity culture. In this fun and insightful book, he explores the difference between celebrities and heroes, a distinction that is more important than ever in our age of Kardashians and Trumps.”
—Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs
“As the editor of People magazine during its early glory days, Landon Jones was present at the creation of the Celebrity Nation. He brings a sharp eye and deep understanding—as well as warmth and humor—to exploring a phenomenon that once seemed like an entertaining diversion but now threatens to consume us all.”
—Evan Thomas, author of First: Sandra Day O’Connor and Road to Surrender
“The final arbiter of all matters celebrity in America.”
—former columnist Frank Rich, New York Times
“As a former editor of People magazine, Landon Jones is an expert on the rise of celebrity culture in this country and its troubling social costs. His mesmerizing book, revealing in unsettling detail how America’s addiction to celebrity has heightened its political and class divisions and weakened community and family ties, is a must-read.”
—Lynne Olson, author of Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt’s Ancient Temples from Destruction
INTRODUCTION
The Celebrity-Industrial Complex
CHAPTER 1
How It Started
CHAPTER 2
Bread and Circuses: The History of Fame
CHAPTER 3
The Dark Side of Celebrity
CHAPTER 4
When Big Names Did Good Works
CHAPTER 5
Sex, Lies, and Social Media
CHAPTER 6
How Celebrities Hijacked Heroes
CHAPTER 7
Celebrity Worship
CHAPTER 8
The Selling of Celebrity
CHAPTER 9
The Human Costs of Celebrity
CHAPTER 10
Swimming with Narcissus
CHAPTER 11
Stories Celebrities Tell
CHAPTER 12
Shape-Shifting: Cameos and Podcasts
CHAPTER 13
“R U Real?”
CHAPTER 14
The Future of Fame
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
- “Forging the Celebrity Politician with Fame and Weapons of Mass Distraction,” Beacon Broadside, excerpt
- “Landon Y. Jones, Who Helped Popularize the Term ‘Baby Boomers,’ Dies at 80,” Wall Street Journal, obituary
- “Landon Y. Jones, Who Made People a Star Among Magazines, Dies at 80,” New York Times, book mentioned in obituary
- “The Dark Side of Celebrity Culture with Landon Jones,” Ruthless Compassion, podcast interview
- “Bestselling books for the week that ended July 16,” St. Louis Dispatch, book hit #5 on local bestseller list the week of 7/16/2023
- “Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved into a Culture of Fans and Followers,” The Next Big Idea Club, “Book Bite” post
- “Celebrity Nation with Landon Jones,” Civics and Coffee, podcast interview
- “The Face of Fame: Sinéad O’Connor and Prince Harry,” Town Topics (Princeton), short write-up
- “Tracing a Path from Hero Worship to Celebrity Nation with Landon Jones,” Princeton Echo, front-page feature
- “How celebrity and fans reshape our world,” Money Control, write-up
- “Landon Y Jones’s Celebrity Nation,” Tales of Lohr, write-up
- “Tracing a Path from Hero Worship to Celebrity Nation with Landon Jones,” US 1 Newspaper (Princeton area), feature article
- “How America evolved into a culture of fans and followers,” Afternoons/Radio New Zealand, interview
- “How Do We Know Who We Are?” Psychology Today, book’s theme discussed in blog piece
- “Princess Diana’s dance partner had to meet certain criteria, claims new book,” The News International, blog post
- “Author Landon Y. Jones discusses meeting Princess Diana and the evolution of celebrity,” To Di For Daily, podcast interview
- “Landon Jones helped create our celebrity-obsessed culture. Now he has regrets,” CBC Sunday Magazine, interview
- “The good, the bad and the ugly of celebrity memoirs,” Sydney Morning Herald, book referenced and quoted in piece
- “Summer books: 40 new titles to make vacations more fun,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, included in reading roundup
- “Lanny Jones ’66 Takes on Celebrity Culture in New Book,” Princeton University Library Review, feature coverage in Summer 23 issue
- “Celebrities, They’re Just Like Us! (feat. Lanny Jones),” Shared History, podcast interview
- “The Rise of Celebrity Culture,” Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society, podcast interview
- “Landon Jones: Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved into a Culture of Fans and Followers,” New Books Network, podcast interview
- “Why we love celebrities more than heroes,” KERA/Think, interview
- “Landon Jones on How America Has Devolved Into a Culture of Fans and Followers,” Keen On, podcast interview
- “Landon Jones’s Celebrity Nation,” The Page 99 Test, essay by author about page 99 from the book
- “Founding Editor of People Magazine Discusses the Rise of the Magazine, Writing, and His New Book,” Eyewitness History, podcast interview
- “In New Book, Lanny Jones ’66 Decries Excessive Celebrity Culture,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, write-up
- “Editor’s Picks,” Air Mail, recommended in newsletter
- “Tracing the Evolution of Celebrity Memoirs, from Charles Lindbergh to Will Smith,” Literary Hub, excerpt
- “The best books about how celebrity culture works and what it is doing to America today,” Shepherd, author’s reading roundup of books on celebrity culture
- “Princeton’s Lanny Jones Turns a Medical Adventure into a Publishing Triumph,” Tap into Princeton, feature story
- “Celebrity Nation: New Book Tracks How Celebrity Worship Took Over in the United States,” Teen Vogue, adapted excerpt