About this Event
Join Magers & Quinn Booksellers at The Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul for a reading and signing with award-winning critic Emily Nussbaum, in conversation with Kara Nesvig.
Tickets
- $35 (plus tax): Admission for 1 attendee, plus 1 copy of Cue the Sun!
- $42 (plus tax): Admission for 2 attendees, plus 1 copy of Cue the Sun!
More books will be available for purchase on site.
About the book:
The rollicking saga of reality television--an ambitious cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer.
"Written with a storyteller's verve, a journalist's skepticism, a critic's astuteness, and a fan's loving eye."--Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Who invented reality television, the world's most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can't we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of dirty documentary--from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump--Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
In sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre's trickster pioneers, from the icy Allen Funt to the shambolic Chuck Barris; Cops auteur John Langley; cynical Bachelor ringmaster Mike Fleiss; and Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim, the visionaries behind The Real World--along with dozens of stars from An American Family, The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor. We learn about the tools of the trade--like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor's best friend--and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality's peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.
What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds--and why won't they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.
About the speakers:
Emily Nussbaum is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she’s worked since 2011, originally as the magazine’s television critic. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Previously, she was the culture editor for New York, where she created the Approval Matrix. She is the author of I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution, which was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Clive Thompson, and their two children.
Kara Nesvig is a freelance writer based in St. Paul. She contributes to publications like Teen Vogue, Brides, Apartment Therapy and Mpls-St. Paul Magazine and works with a variety of brands across the fashion, food and beverage and wellness industries. She’s a voracious reader, a Britney Spears super fan and mom.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Amsterdam Bar & Hall, Wabasha Street North, Saint Paul, United States
USD 35.00 to USD 42.00
