With television programmers like "Big Brother", to magazines like "Heat" and "Closer" feeding the public's obsession with celebrity, "The Celebrity Culture Reader" is a perfectly timed collection of writings for this rapidly growing field of study. Through a combination of classic pieces and contemporary writings, P. David Marshall and the contributors examine the proliferation of the study of celebrity over the last twenty years, and the significance and importance of celebrity in contemporary culture. Taking a broad definition of the concept of celebrity, "The Celebrity Culture Reader" discusses: cult celebrity status from Alexander the Great to the Transformation of the actor to a public person in the eighteenth century; the industrial apparatus leading to the star system in early narrative film; music celebrity; the celebrity status of literary authors; the emergence of CEOs as corporate business celebrities; the role of celebrity in politics; and, reality television. Divided into easy-to-follow sections, the broad chronological and international range of articles feature discussion of recognized celebrities including Madonna and Princess Diana, and the idea that through enough self-promotion, anyone can now achieve celebrity status.