Celebrity : a history of fame Introduction Theories of celebrity The rise of mass culture and the production of celebrities Silver screens and their stars Radio: the stars in our homes TV and the need for familiarity Musical celebrity Everyones a star Conclusion Today celebrity culture is an inescapable part of our media landscape and our everyday lives. This was not always the case. Over the past century media technologies have increasingly expanded the production and proliferation of fame. Celebrity explores this revolution and its often under estimated impact on American culture. Using numerous precedent setting examples spanning more than one hundred years of media history Douglas and McDonnell trace the dynamic relationship between celebrity and the technologies of mass communication that have shaped the nature of fame in the United States.