Since the early 1700s, celebrity has been one of the most emphatic driving forces in popular culture. In this history, Greg Jenner assembles a vibrant cast of over 125 actors, singers, dancers, sportspeople, freaks, ruffians, and more, in search of celebrity's historical roots. Among the figures profiled are the scandalous Lord Byron, whose poetry sent female fans into an erotic frenzy; or the cheetah-owning, coffin-sleeping, one-legged French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who launched a violent feud with her former best friend; and Edmund Kean, the dazzling Shakespearean actor who was nearly murdered by his own audience.