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Camp!

The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World
Brief Description
‘My dear, she's on fire!’ DAMIAN BARR ‘A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic’ Financial Times ‘The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a tantrum over wire... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
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By the bestselling author of Fabulosa! and Outrageous!, this reappraisal of camp across time and in all its glorious forms shows how this inescapable part of popular culture has also played an important role in equality movements as a form of protest or resistance.

By the bestselling author of Fabulosa! and Outrageous!, this reappraisal of camp across time and in all its glorious forms shows how this inescapable part of popular culture has also played an important role in equality movements as a form of protest or resistance.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

‘My dear, she's on fire!’ DAMIAN BARR

‘A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic’ Financial Times

‘The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man dressed as a gladiator, and a rat underneath a silver serving platter’

An essential reappraisal of camp across time and across the globe, from the author of Fabulosa! and Outrageous!

Camp! has been an inescapable part of popular culture for at least the last 150 years. Famously unrestrained and ever evolving, it has not only captured the cultural imagination, but also played an important role as a form of protest and resistance.

Paul Baker takes us through camp's rebellious and revolutionary past with warmth, humour and sensitivity, starting with the court of Louis XIV and the dandies of the eighteenth century through to Showgirls, Harlem's drag balls and Columbian telenovelas.

Throughout its history, camp has been a place of refuge and renewal, of heroism and hedonism. This glorious celebration traces camp's journey from the fringes of society to the mainstream.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781804440469

Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 October 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Footnote Press Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 199.0mm

Weight: 218g

Pages: 320

About the Author

Paul Baker is a Professor of English Language at Lancaster University and has written over twenty books, for both academic and popular audiences. These include Fabulosa: The Story of Polari, and Outrageous! The Story of Section 28 and the Battle for LGBT Education. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Also by Paul Baker

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  • Camp!
    The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or another: a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a peacock chair, a wig being pulled off and flushed down the toilet, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a toppled-over Christmas tree, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man...
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  • Outrageous!
    On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O'Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting - 'Stop Section 28!' - and a scuffle. The morning papers would announce: 'Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian'. The next day Section 28...
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  • Fabulosa!
    A Book of the Year 2019 – Times Literary Supplement Polari is a language that was used chiefly by gay men in the first half of the 20th century. At a time when being gay could result in criminal prosecution – or worse – Polari offered its speakers a degree of public camouflage, a way of expressing humour, and a...
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    On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O'Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting—'Stop Section 28!'—and a scuffle. The morning papers would announce: 'Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian'. The next day Section 28 passed into law, forbidding...
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