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The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion Hardcover – November 5, 2013
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"THE POWER OF GLAMOUR is another reminder why Virginia Postrel is one of our keenest cultural observers and most important social thinkers. Using lively prose, fascinating images, and examples that range from Alexander the Great to Kate Moss, Postrel brings to life an elusive subject. This book is essential reading for people in advertising, marketing, politics, and entertainment -- as well as for anyone interested in seeing our culture with fresh eyes." (Daniel H. Pink, author of TO SELL IS HUMAN and A WHOLE NEW MIND)
"[Postrel] offers a thoroughly researched, analytical, illustrated view on the characteristics, both keen and subtle, that qualify an object, person, event or location as glamorous...Postrel cites innumerable sources, weaving quotations and vignettes into each of her chapters, and the result is exhaustive and wholly entertaining. For those interested in the evolution of glamour over the ages, as well as readers with a stake in marketing, this is a must-read." (Kirkus)
“Postrel’s cleareyed and exhaustive analysis looks not only at the history of glamour, but at how it works…[Postrel] seems to be the kind of public intellectual for whom the TED Talk seems to have been invented." (The New York Times Book Review)
"[Postrel] offers a thoroughly researched, analytical, illustrated view on the characteristics, both keen and subtle, that qualify an object, person, event or location as glamorous...Postrel cites innumerable sources, weaving quotations and vignettes into each of her chapters, and the result is exhaustive and wholly entertaining. For those interested in the evolution of glamour over the ages, as well as readers with a stake in marketing, this is a must-read." (Kirkus)
“Postrel’s cleareyed and exhaustive analysis looks not only at the history of glamour, but at how it works…[Postrel] seems to be the kind of public intellectual for whom the TED Talk seems to have been invented." (The New York Times Book Review)
About the Author
Virginia Postrel is a columnist for Bloomberg View and has been a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Forbes. Formerly the editor of Reason magazine, she is the author of The Substance of Style and The Future and Its Enemies. She teaches a special seminar on glamour in the Branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She lives in Los Angeles.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By
K. Silber
on November 6, 2013
Format: Hardcover
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I did not think I had a particular interest in glamour until I read The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion, by Virginia Postrel. As it turns out, I have a strong interest in glamour (at least certain types of it) and this book offers a fascinating and cogent analysis of what glamour is and why it is important.
I was drawn to the book by my long interest in Virginia's work, dating back to the 1990s when she edited Reason magazine and I wrote some articles for it. (My involvement and post-Postrel break with the magazine are recounted here [see my blog for this and other links].) A decade ago, I reviewed her book The Substance of Style, which espoused a growing linkage of aesthetics and economics. (Subsequently, after marrying an architectural lighting designer, I gained some exposure to a field that exemplifies that connection.)
In her new book, Postrel distinguishes glamour from concepts with which it may blur, such as luxury, celebrity or charisma. She defines glamour as "nonverbal rhetoric" (typically conveyed by visual images) that "leads us to feel that the life we dream of exists, and to desire it even more." Glamour has, in her telling, three essential elements: "a promise of escape and transformation" (letting people project themselves into a desired situation); "grace" (hiding or removing flaws and distractions); and "mystery" (leaving some things to the audience's imagination).
The Power of Glamour ranges widely across examples of its subject. Glamour can attach to a variety of people, places and objects--as diverse as people's desires. Postrel examines various archetypes or "icons" of glamour, including aviators, princesses, superheroes, suntans, smoking, wind turbines, California and Shanghai.Read more ›
I was drawn to the book by my long interest in Virginia's work, dating back to the 1990s when she edited Reason magazine and I wrote some articles for it. (My involvement and post-Postrel break with the magazine are recounted here [see my blog for this and other links].) A decade ago, I reviewed her book The Substance of Style, which espoused a growing linkage of aesthetics and economics. (Subsequently, after marrying an architectural lighting designer, I gained some exposure to a field that exemplifies that connection.)
In her new book, Postrel distinguishes glamour from concepts with which it may blur, such as luxury, celebrity or charisma. She defines glamour as "nonverbal rhetoric" (typically conveyed by visual images) that "leads us to feel that the life we dream of exists, and to desire it even more." Glamour has, in her telling, three essential elements: "a promise of escape and transformation" (letting people project themselves into a desired situation); "grace" (hiding or removing flaws and distractions); and "mystery" (leaving some things to the audience's imagination).
The Power of Glamour ranges widely across examples of its subject. Glamour can attach to a variety of people, places and objects--as diverse as people's desires. Postrel examines various archetypes or "icons" of glamour, including aviators, princesses, superheroes, suntans, smoking, wind turbines, California and Shanghai.Read more ›
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By
Leslie Watkins
on November 6, 2013
Format: Hardcover
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If you've ever wondered why you're deeply affected by certain images or photographs, by political candidates or ideas, by technology and works of art, this book is a must read. With prose as evocative and clean as a glass house overlooking a distant cityscape at night, and with illustrations as interesting as they are expressive, Virginia Postrel uncovers the elemental aspects of human longing and reveals how human desire has been reflected throughout history in glamorous objects, scenes, and people. In so doing, she gives the lie to the widely held idea that glamour is shallow and trivial, demonstrating that it is, instead, quite deep.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By
Joy McCann
on November 15, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
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Virginia Postrel defines "glamour" as a form of visual persuasion that we "know to be false, but feel to be true." She shows us what it looks like when people use glamour to sell to other people--and to sell themselves on a particular course of action.
This book will be extremely useful to marketers, but it will be just as helpful for people who want a way to sketch out their own life goals, keeping themselves pointed toward a real oasis . . . even if they must do it by mapping a course to a useful mirage.
(Disclosure: I got a chance to read this book early, since a few last-minute changes to such things as picture placement led to a decision that one more "pair of eyes" would be useful--and I ended up assisting with the final proofreading.)
This book will be extremely useful to marketers, but it will be just as helpful for people who want a way to sketch out their own life goals, keeping themselves pointed toward a real oasis . . . even if they must do it by mapping a course to a useful mirage.
(Disclosure: I got a chance to read this book early, since a few last-minute changes to such things as picture placement led to a decision that one more "pair of eyes" would be useful--and I ended up assisting with the final proofreading.)
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By
Erik_In_Vegas
on February 15, 2014
Format: Hardcover
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This is an incredibly insightful book - filled with a new way to correctly perceive visual imagery.
I'm 62 with a lifelong interest in art, photography, psychology, sociology, advertising, marketing & the history of pop culture. This book brought me new and deeper meaning to each other those subjects.
When I first saw this book on my local library's New Book Shelf - I wrongly assumed this was a 'Chick Book' about fashion or clothing or whatever. But, when I read the subtitle ('The Art of Visual Persuasion') I began to see it was exactly up-my-alley of interests.
If you're a guy, please don't make the huge mistake of bypassing this book due to your preconceived idea of glamour being a 'woman's thing' - cuz this book will blast that definition out of the water forever. As well it should. Especially when it examines the glamour of war and battle and gun love, the Marlboro Man, fast cars, James Bond & superheroes, etc.
This book provides a modern filter on how to correctly perceive almost every Visual we see in this media age.
Even as I was watching a rerun of the movie 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid' this morning... I realized the glamour aspects it portrayed about the Wild West and the freedoms associated with being an outlaw.
I not exaggerating when I say this book will change your perceptions on most everything you see, after you finish your reading.
This book should be mandatory reading for students of advertising and communications. Art. Psychology. Technology. History. Sociology. Even the fields of religion and Positive Thinking and visualization. Most everything really! And I'm not stretching the truth one bit when I say that.Read more ›
I'm 62 with a lifelong interest in art, photography, psychology, sociology, advertising, marketing & the history of pop culture. This book brought me new and deeper meaning to each other those subjects.
When I first saw this book on my local library's New Book Shelf - I wrongly assumed this was a 'Chick Book' about fashion or clothing or whatever. But, when I read the subtitle ('The Art of Visual Persuasion') I began to see it was exactly up-my-alley of interests.
If you're a guy, please don't make the huge mistake of bypassing this book due to your preconceived idea of glamour being a 'woman's thing' - cuz this book will blast that definition out of the water forever. As well it should. Especially when it examines the glamour of war and battle and gun love, the Marlboro Man, fast cars, James Bond & superheroes, etc.
This book provides a modern filter on how to correctly perceive almost every Visual we see in this media age.
Even as I was watching a rerun of the movie 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid' this morning... I realized the glamour aspects it portrayed about the Wild West and the freedoms associated with being an outlaw.
I not exaggerating when I say this book will change your perceptions on most everything you see, after you finish your reading.
This book should be mandatory reading for students of advertising and communications. Art. Psychology. Technology. History. Sociology. Even the fields of religion and Positive Thinking and visualization. Most everything really! And I'm not stretching the truth one bit when I say that.Read more ›
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By
Mike Mertens
on November 24, 2013
Format: Hardcover
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I really enjoyed Virginia Postrel's The Power of Glamour and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to better understand what glamour is, its history and how it impacts us both individually and culturally. The book is very well written and contains many images and examples to illustrate the ideas explored throughout the book.
The author begins with "the magic of glamour" to set the context. She describes glamour as a form of rhetoric that involves an interaction between an object and the audience. She then builds out her definition of glamour over the next several chapters. There are 3 recurring elements in her analysis of Glamour: The Promise of Escape and Transformation, Grace, and Mystery (leaving something to the imagination). Each of these chapters is full of interesting information and analysis. For the purpose of this review, I would like to note a few key things she points out in regard to Grace.
Grace gives us the impression of something being effortless even though in reality there is a tremendous amount of hard work that we don't see and which is needed for that grace to be developed (think of all the practice Michael Jordan needed to do to become so graceful on the basketball court, that Astaire and Rogers needed to do to look so graceful on the dance floor). As she points out "glamour appears effortless" and this is what "makes glamour so dangerous and so alluring."
Ms. Postrel also differentiates Glamour from other related concepts. I found her analysis of the difference between glamour and charisma to be very enlightening. She presents a chart with the differences between the two concepts (she also notes that objects can be glamorous but they cannot have charisma) and then notes some examples to illustrate those differences.Read more ›
The author begins with "the magic of glamour" to set the context. She describes glamour as a form of rhetoric that involves an interaction between an object and the audience. She then builds out her definition of glamour over the next several chapters. There are 3 recurring elements in her analysis of Glamour: The Promise of Escape and Transformation, Grace, and Mystery (leaving something to the imagination). Each of these chapters is full of interesting information and analysis. For the purpose of this review, I would like to note a few key things she points out in regard to Grace.
Grace gives us the impression of something being effortless even though in reality there is a tremendous amount of hard work that we don't see and which is needed for that grace to be developed (think of all the practice Michael Jordan needed to do to become so graceful on the basketball court, that Astaire and Rogers needed to do to look so graceful on the dance floor). As she points out "glamour appears effortless" and this is what "makes glamour so dangerous and so alluring."
Ms. Postrel also differentiates Glamour from other related concepts. I found her analysis of the difference between glamour and charisma to be very enlightening. She presents a chart with the differences between the two concepts (she also notes that objects can be glamorous but they cannot have charisma) and then notes some examples to illustrate those differences.Read more ›
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