The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Celebrity

Volume IV, Number 1 | winter 2011

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Preamble

Dancing with the Stars

By Lewis H. Lapham

The vanity of princes is an old story; so is the wish for kings and the gazing into the pool of Narcissus.

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Vanishing Act

By Paul Collins

Barbara Newhall Follett was a prodigy who transfixed the literary world—and then vanished.

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Famous adventurers, entertainers, geniuses, and outlaws.

Map

Hall of Famers

Famous adventurers, entertainers, geniuses, and outlaws.

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c. 2100 BC | Mesopotamia

Press Release

Ur-Nammu, not lacking in confidence.More

c. 30 | Galilee

Fan Base

Jesus Christ, superstar.More

1849 | Concord, MA

Great Man Theory

Emerson’s ubermensch. More

Charts & Graphs

Celebrity Deathmatch

Fighting words, and sometimes fists.

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American showman P.T. Barnum.

Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto.

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

American writer Tad Friend.

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Painted portrait of second President of the United States John Adams.

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Reality is always the foe of famous names.

—Petrarch, 1337

Missing contributor image silhouette

American musician, songwriter, and co-founder of Mötley Crüe Nikki Sixx.

Suetonius & Nikki Sixx

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