Authenticity is everywhere: political leaders invoke the idea to gain our support advertisers
use it to sell their products. But is authenticity a dangerous hoax? What is and is not
authentic has been hotly debated ever since the concept was invented. Many academics have
sought to unmask authenticity claims as deceptive. This book takes a different approach. In
chapters covering historical and contemporary examples the authors explore why authenticity
real or imagined exercises such a powerful hold on our imaginations. The chapters trace how
invocations of authenticity borrow from one another across arenas such as philosophy and
theology encounters with nature leisure and mass consumption political and corporate
leadership left-wing and right-wing ideologies. This cultural history of authenticity is of
interest to academic and lay readers alike who are interested in the significance and history
of a concept that shapes how we understand ourselves and the world we live in.
