Fame Junkies（ISBN=） 英文原版

　　Why do more people watch American Idol than the nightly news?
What is it about Paris Hilton’s dating life that is so intriguing?
Why do teenage girls when given the option of “pressing a magic
button and becoming either stronger, smarter, famous, or more
beautiful” predominantly opt for fame? In this entertaining and
enlightening book, Jake Halpern explores the fascinating and often
dark implications of America’s obsession with fame. He travels to a
Hollywood home for aspiring child actors and enrolls in a training
program for aspiring celebrity assistants. He visits the offices of
Us Weekly and a laboratory where monkeys give up food to stare at
pictures of dominant members of their group. The book culminates in
Halpern’s encounter with Rod Stewart’s biggest fan, a woman from
Pittsburgh who nominated the singer for Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
Fame Junkies reveals how psychology, technology, and even evolution
conspire to make the world of red carpets and velvet ropes so
enthralling to all of us on the outside looking in.

　　Born in 1975 in Buffalo, New York, JAKE HALPERN attended Yale
University. He has written for the New Republic, Commonwealth, the
Jerusalem Report, and other magazines. Unlike the people in this
book, he comes from a family with a long tradition of leaving
places: his great-grandmother immigrated to America, returned home
to Hungary, then immigrated to America once again. His grandfather
was so desperate to get out of New York that he took a job chipping
paint on a giant freighter bound for California via the Panama
Canal. Jake Halpern has lived in New Haven, Prague, London, Tel
Aviv, Washington, D.C., and India. For now, he lives in New Haven,
CT. Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski can be visited at
.

　　”Jake Halpern presents a provacative expose on the origins of
celebrity worship. His in-depth look at the public’s insatiable
appetite for gossip is a fascinating read.” (Bonnie Fuller, VP and
editorial director of Star magazine )”Halpern is in his element
when doing character studies, and Fame Junkies is bursting with
them…At his best, Mr, Halpern displays an evocative, insiderish
style reminiscent, however slightly, of Tom Wolfe’s when he peered
into 1960s celebrity culture.” (Wall Street Journal )”Presents a
lot of evidence about America’s obsession with fame and celebrity:
some of it funny, some of it surprising, much of it disturbing.”
(Washington Post )”The mirror that Halpern holds up to modern
society may yield oan unflattering reflection, but the blinding
allure of celebrity reveals our honest moth-to-the-light-bulb
vulnerability: We just can’t help ourselves.” (The Toronto Star
)”Brims with insight about our obsession with celebrity.” (Boston
Magazine )”Displays an evocative, insiderish style reminiscent,
however slightly, of Tom Wolfe’s when he peered into 1960s
celebrity culture.” (Wall Street Journal )