Few features of contemporary American culture are as widely lamented as the public's obsession with celebrity--and the trivializing effect this obsession has on what appears as news. Nevertheless, America's "culture of celebrity" remains misunderstood, particularly when critics discuss its historical roots. In this pathbreaking book, Charles Ponce de Leon provides a new interpretation of the emergence of celebrity. Focusing on the development of human-interest journalism about prominent public figures, he illuminates the ways in which new forms of press coverage gradually undermined the belief that famous people were "great," instead encouraging the public to regard them as complex, interesting, even flawed individuals and offering readers seemingly intimate glimpses of the "real" selves that were presumed to lie behind the calculated, self-promotional fronts that celebrities displayed in public. But human-interest journalism about celebrities did more than simply offer celebrities a new means of gaining publicity or provide readers with the "inside dope," says Ponce de Leon. In chapters devoted to celebrities from the realms of business, politics, entertainment, and sports, he shows how authors of celebrity journalism used their writings to weigh in on subjects as wide-ranging as social class, race relations, gender roles, democracy, political reform, self-expression, material success, competition, and the work ethic, offering the public a new lens through which to view these issues.

Written in candid prose, Gibson takes the reader through his life and career that spans over 50 years. Gibson's story is a fascinating one, from his earliest memories growing up in California to his time in the navy and his continuous love affair with photography. Gibson's memories are time-capsules, filled with rich characters and period details. Often moving, the narratives of his at times troublesome childhood provide a rich background to the charismatic artist Gibson has become. His ruminations on his life so far display a deep, thoughtful understanding and self-awareness that make this book a fascinating read in itself as well as an illuminating companion to his work. Evocatively illustrated, Self Exposure presents Gibson's life story alongside his photographic work, all presented with high quality production values.

Now revised and expanded to include cutting-edge acceptance-based techniques and a new focus on inhibitory learning, this is the leading guide to therapeutic exposure, a crucial element of evidence-based psychological treatments for anxiety. The book helps the clinician gain skills and confidence for implementing exposure successfully and tailoring interventions to each client's needs, regardless of diagnosis. The theoretical and empirical bases of exposure are reviewed and specialized assessment and treatment planning techniques are described. User-friendly features include illustrative case examples, sample treatment plans, ideas for exercises targeting specific types of fears, and reproducible handouts and forms that can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8½" x 11" size. New to This Edition *Chapter on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) techniques. *Reflects a shift in the field toward inhibitory learning--helping clients learn to tolerate anxiety and uncertainty to maximize long-term outcomes. *Chapter on uses of technology, such as computer-based therapy and virtual reality tools. *Conceptual, empirical, and clinical advances woven throughout. See also the related client recommendation, The Anxiety and Worry Workbook, Second Edition, by David A. Clark and Aaron T. Beck.

Exposure anxiety is increasingly understood as a crippling condition affecting a high proportion of people on the autism spectrum. Based on personal experience, this book describes the condition and its underlying physiological causes, and presents approaches and strategies that can be used to combat it.

This User’s Guide is a resource for investigators and stakeholders who develop and review observational comparative effectiveness research protocols. It explains how to (1) identify key considerations and best practices for research design; (2) build a protocol based on these standards and best practices; and (3) judge the adequacy and completeness of a protocol. Eleven chapters cover all aspects of research design, including: developing study objectives, defining and refining study questions, addressing the heterogeneity of treatment effect, characterizing exposure, selecting a comparator, defining and measuring outcomes, and identifying optimal data sources. Checklists of guidance and key considerations for protocols are provided at the end of each chapter. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews. More more information, please consult the Agency website: www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov)

"Friendships are built on chatter, on gossip, on revelations--on talk. Over the course of the summer of 1965, Linda Rosenkrantz taped conversations between three friends (two straight, one gay) on the cusp of thirty vacationing at the beach: Emily, an actor; Vince, a painter; and Marsha, a writer. The result was Talk, a novel in dialogue. The friends are ambitious, conflicted, jealous, petty, loving, funny, sex- and shrink-obsessed, and there's nothing they won't discuss. Topics covered include LSD, fathers, exes, lovers, abortions, S&M, sculpture, books, cats, and of course, each other. Talk was ahead of its time in recognizing the fascination and significance of nonfamily ties in contemporary life. It may be almost fifty years since Emily, Vince, and Marsha spent the season in East Hampton, but they wouldn't be out of place on the set of Girls or in the pages of a novel like Sheila Heti's How Should a Person Be?"--

The nude self-portrait is perhaps the most intimate form of photography. It delves deep into taboo territory and strips away the traditional barriers between artist and viewer. Witnessing such a private act, we may feel the queasy embarrassment of a voyeur, but we are always compelled to look further. The images cut to the core of issues of identity, sexuality, and ego– and as they reveal an essential truth about their creators they also tell us something about ourselves. Self-Exposure features more than 100 works from both established masters and up-and-coming photographers–many never before published. This groundbreaking collection traces the development of the male self-portrait from its earliest beginnings with such greats as Hippolyte Bayard, Herbert Tobias, and André Kertész, to the contemporary efforts of such artists as John Dugdale, Anthony Goicolea, and Yasumasa Morimura. Each artist takes a uniquely individual approach ranging from the shockingly perverse and aggressively erotic to the elusively self-conscious and sublimely beautiful. Complete with brief biographies of each artist, Self-Exposure is a powerful survey of this most seductive subject.