A wide-ranging study of self-creation.Burton, a novelist, scholar of theology, and essayist, examines the idea that we have the power "to remake ourselves and our realities" to reflect our desires. Organized chronologically, from the Renaissance to internet influencers, the author's investigation charts "an increasingly disenchanted world" in which humans lost faith that God created each individual's unalterable personality. Rather, they came to believe in their own power of self-transformation. Burton cites German painter Albrecht Dürer, for example, as an artist who "forged a personality that sustained and advertised his work, even as his work- constantly emblazoned with his trademark-advertised the man. "Dürer-the-artist, Dürer-the-portrait, and Dürer-the-advertiser all mutually reinforced one another." In Regency England, the "middle-class upstart" Beau Brummell saw fashion as a means to social and political influence. "The perception of the right people at the right time," he understood, "was at the heart of this new avenue toward power. Perception was something that the clever and intrepid could learn how to shape." Rather than reflect social station, fashion came to express individual personality as well as political identity. In 1859, acclaimed orator Frederick Douglass lectured on the "Self-Made Man," asserting that work was the key to remaking the self. Burton's well-populated history features figures such as Thomas Edison, "one of the canniest self-promoters"; the outrageous Oscar Wilde; and writer Elinor Glyn, inventor of the term it, defined as "a blend of raw sex appeal, Wildean dandyism," and "quasi-magical personal magnetism." The quality of "it" lay at the heart of a burgeoning celebrity culture. Perhaps the oddest group of self-creators are extropians, "interested in optimizing every aspect of human existence, transforming the body into the best possible machine" through technology. The author concludes that our search for self-definition is ultimately a search for what it means to be human: vulnerable and inextricably interconnected.A thoughtful, well-grounded cultural history.

In this wide-ranging survey, Burton (Strange Rites) traces the idea of the charismatic “self-made” person through its evolution from the advent of the printing press to the age of social media. Profiling Thomas Edison, Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and other zeitgeist-influencers, Burton demonstrates how their genius at marketing highly curated versions of themselves often obscured or ignored elements that didn’t fit the narrative, and describes the need for self-invention as a quest to become a “god” where “artificiality and authenticity meet.” Renaissance artist and printmaker Albrecht Dürer made his attempt literal, boldly inserting his own image to represent Jesus in his art. Men dominate the first portion of the analysis, but easing social restrictions in the 20th century led to the rise of self-made women. Actor Clara Bow’s celebrated “It” factor launched a fervor to capture that elusive, mesmerizing quality on cinema screens and in increasingly lucrative advertising. Through each era, technology has remained a crucial component in allowing tastemakers to shape their personas and spread their self-promotional messages. With clarity and authority, Burton sheds light on how the self-made indulge in the profitable “fantasy of selling yourself” and provide an escape from reality for their followers. It’s an eye-opener. (Jun.)