If you enjoyed Eric Burns’ book Infamous Scribblers, you might like his latest effort: Virtue, Valor, & Vanity (Arcade, 2007).

While the earlier book focused on the Founders’ journalistic pursuits, this one covers their pursuit of fame. You’ll learn more about the Founders’ attitudes about ambition, vanity, and public recognition.

Burns also comments on political fame in the 21st century:

In the eighteenth century, fame graced public officials for their accomplishments and eluded them for incompetence or venality, which is to say that, in most cases, it had more to do with the quality of the man than with the status of the position, and the man was judged according to the strictest of standards.

In the twenty-first century, all politicians are celebrities of one sort or another. Because media outlets have insatiable appetites and standards are so lax as not to be standards at all, today’s politicians control their visibility….

The media, in all their numerous forms, make politicians famous today, regardless of ability, commitment, or integrity. Exposure, not merit, controls renown ? the same in government as in show business.