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9781469660516 Academic Inspection Copy

The Strange Genius of Mr. O.

The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity
  • ISBN-13: 9781469660516
  • Publisher: THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
    Imprint: THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
  • By Carolyn Eastman
  • Price: AUD $78.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 30/05/2021
  • Format: Hardback (235.00mm X 155.00mm) 360 pages Weight: 635g
  • Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]
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When James Ogilvie arrived in America in 1793, he was a deeply ambitious but impoverished teacher. By the time he returned to Britain in 1817, he had become a bona fide celebrity known simply as Mr. O, counting the nation's leading politicians and intellectuals among his admirers. And then, like so many meteoric American luminaries afterward, he fell from grace. The Strange Genius of Mr. O is at once the biography of a remarkable performer--a gaunt Scottish orator who appeared in a toga--and a story of the United States during the founding era. Ogilvie's career featured many of the hallmarks of celebrity we recognize from later eras: glamorous friends, eccentric clothing, scandalous religious views, narcissism, and even an alarming drug habit. Yet he captivated audiences with his eloquence and inaugurated a golden age of American oratory. Examining his roller-coaster career and the Americans who admired (or hated) him, this fascinating book renders a vivid portrait of the United States in the midst of invention.
Carolyn Eastman is associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of the prizewinning A Nation of Speechifiers: Making an American Public after the Revolution.
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