Hype: The Names and Faces You Know So Well Will Never Look So Good to You Again

by Steven M.L. Aronson

Hype rips the wrapping off the celebrity package, revealing in shocking detail how public figures are manufactured -- often by themselves. In this outrageous and at times hilarious book -- a witch's brew of sensational gossip and keen cultural observation -- Steven Aronson brilliantly describes and boldly decodes the mechanism of hype.

399 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Dianne]

With the news that Sears may be declaring bankruptcy I recalled this book that I read many years ago. What I remember from the book is that Sears was the biggest retail company in the world at that time. From the top of the heap to the court of despair; that's disappointing. People in rural communities did all their shopping from the Sears catalogue. I wonder why Sears didn't succeed with online shopping.

[Henry]

The author essentially argues that for many people, "hype" (the wrapper) is worth much more than the content itself. And that if you repeat "greatness" so many times (feels like Trump's tactics), people eventually buy into your message rather than the innate content itself.

But fundamentally, this has to do with the innate sense of lack: when people grow up mirroring others and never eventually find their own self, as adults, they once again mirrow. The hype machine dives into this: they give the mirroring adults a clear binary view (A is good B is bad, buy/participate in A and don't buy/participate in B). The author has noted that a successful hype machine merely amp up the hype and "fill it with noise".

[Barbara]

why this was ever published is beyond me. pointless repetitive drivel