The cult of celebrity. From Barnum to "bling" : the changing face of celebrity culture / Amy Henderson ; Celebrity culture / Joseph Epstein ; Before Lindsay or Paris, there was Mrs. L_fle / Jessica Grose ; Our celebrity madness : a reflection of consumerism / Tirdad Derakhshani ; Seeing by starlight / Carlin Flora ; Not exactly the stuff of legends / John Intini -- Celebrity activism and American politics. American politics in the age of celebrity / Darrell M. West ; Jesse Ventura and the brave new world of politainer politics / Ann Conley and David Schultz ; Victory for Arnold / Roger Simon ; Can Oprah boost her 'favorite guy'? / Eugene Robinson ; Stage left / Ed Leibowitz ; Celebrity and politics / Andrew Kamons ; Foreign policy goes glami / Daniel W. Drezner -- The price of fame. Falling stars / Simon Dumenco ; Why did we watch? : the answer isn't pretty / Caryn James ; The other side of fame / Mary Loftus ; Falling stars : will Lohan be the next celebrity flame-out? / Katherine Monk ; Right time, wrong publicity / Caryn James ; Being bad : the career move / Guy Trebay ; What price, fame? / Greg Sivik ; Screen idols : the tragedy of falling stars / Reni Celeste -- The democratization of celebrity. Open-source celebrity : the wisdom of the audience / Jonathon Keats ; Mirror, mirror on the web / Lakshmi Chaudhry ; She's famous (and so can you) / Guy Trebay.