Steven Watts is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri. This interview is based on his new book, Citizen Cowboy: Will Rogers and the American People (Cambridge University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Citizen Cowboy? […]
celebrity
The art of living: Angela Lansbury
Some celebrities are exemplars in many ways, but the public is less aware.
Counterpoint: celebrities talking politics—let them eat cake
When it comes to talking politics, celebrities do not always get it right, but neither do the rest of us.
Hidden holiness
Is “hidden holiness” the answer to celebrity culture? Here is Andy Stanton-Henry at Plough: There’s another word for “successful saints”: celebrities. There has been a lot of conversation lately about the dangers of celebrity Christianity, and I don’t want to […]
“A mordant political culture in which power transforms a person into a celebrity”
My feeds are filled with MasterClass ads. For $180 a year I can learn cooking from Gordon Ramsey, science from Bill Nye, writing from James Patterson, comedy from Steve Martin, personal branding from Kris Jenner, acting from Samuel L. Jackson, […]
Should we blame NBC for Simone Biles’s withdrawal from competition?
Richard Zoglin makes a compelling argument in a recent op-ed at The Washington Post. Here is a taste: Is NBC to blame for Simone Biles’s Olympic withdrawal? I am overstating the case, of course. But to understand Biles’s decision to […]