‘A fast-moving train of a book’
NEW YORK TIMES

‘Gripping’
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘Funny, startling . . . a must read’
PETER POMERANTSEV, author of This Is Not Propaganda

‘Revelatory’
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, author of The Origins of Political Order

As the forces of social media and capitalism collide, cultivating our ‘personal brands’ has become the norm. But this phenomenon is not new: Instagram culture is part of a story that goes back centuries.

From the Renaissance genius to the Regency dandy, Hollywood’s Golden Age to today’s Silicon Valley and reality TV stars, Self-Made takes us on a dazzling tour of modern history’s most prominent self-makers, uncovering both self-making’s liberatory power, and the dangers this idea can unleash.