'We're all now self-makers, whether we like it or not - and this witty, sceptical book is the thought-provoking story of how we got here'
GUARDIAN

'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.

"A fun, insightful romp . . . we're all now self-makers, whether we like it or not - and this witty, sceptical book is the thought-provoking story of how we got here" - Guardian

"A fast-moving train of a book . . . Burton is a confident conductor" - New York Times

"Throughout her gripping account Burton homes in on the tensions at the heart of all self-making acts: between authenticity and artificiality, and between the self that is given and the self that is desired" - Times Literary Supplement

"Wide-ranging . . . 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" - Publishers Weekly

"Burton 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" - Kirkus

"It's a remarkable journey we humans have been on . . . The heights of self-aggrandisement Burton encounters are dizzying . . . she does not condemn outright the modern urge for self-expression. Bounding from one historical anecdote to the next, she reveals the human ingenuity that is unleashed when God's plan for us is taken out of the equation" - New Statesman

"Burton is right and brave to surmise that hollow self-making offers the wrong kind of answers to the modern bourgeois or digital peasant who wants to live a happy or meaningful life" - Wall Street Journal