Review of The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Katy Kelleher

*The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption* by Katy Kelleher (2023). Published by Simon & Schuster.

When I first received an advanced copy of The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption from NetGalley, via the publisher Simon & Schuster, I knew this was the kind of book that I would be interested in.

When I was first coming out of my undergraduate degree and taking a gap year, trying to figure out what to do for the rest of my life, I remembered when a professor in my undergrad was telling me I needed to go to graduate school because of the ideas I was putting out there in class already.

Because of that, I ended up getting myself together and applying for PhD programs in anthropology with the intent of trying to do research within material culture.

That’s why this book was so good for me as a student. I’m very interested in how people interact with everyday objects and the deeper symbols they create within a society.

I didn’t end up getting into a PhD program considering I was completely changing fields, but I’m okay with that. This book was a reminder as to why I try to study what I do, but I can easily see how others wouldn’t like it since it tries too hard to blend personal essays with the academic in a way that might not work for many.

Onwards with the review!

An exploration of obsession, consumption, and objects through history and personal narrative.

In this book, every chapter is focused on how a certain object was seen throughout a period of history. We have the personal aspects of Kelleher’s experiences with said objects, especially how she has been obsessed with objects throughout her life. This feeds into how it ended up becoming part of her career to write about said objects and their histories, which is the premise of this book.

And a lot of these objects, as we delve into the history, science, and sociology behind them, can be a bit ugly when it comes to how they’re manipulated to keep the status quo, whether it’s the fashion industry exploiting others to create garments for us to consume, or the deadly nature of lipstick and makeup in Elizabethan England.

The heart of the book is trying to figure out the history of the objects and then situate the reader within the author’s personal feelings and how she has interacted with them.

It places Kelleher inside of the chronological timeline of consumption, and while the science and deadly nature of some things have diminished, it instead shows how the core feeling of wanting to collect and search out this beauty ends up still happening today. Some may chalk it up to human nature in the end, but it’s something that goes beyond simply using something.

I genuinely enjoyed these academic explorations throughout the book, although some of the histories I was already acutely aware of to some kind of degree already. I mentioned in in the introduction paragraph how some might find these to be imbalanced as they read through, which comes into play here.

There might not be enough memoir and personal narrative injected in the beginning to keep people going throughout the book. It might lean too academic at times, which makes it not as “fun” as a read for someone with a short attention span.

There’s then the philosophical elements of the harm now created by these industries scattered throughout, which others might not be able to confront yet. I think a lot of people are in self-denial about the state of the world and the objects we consume, and I’m saying this as someone who did my undergrad focusing on the unethical impacts of the fashion industry, especially in Bangladesh and South Asia. People acknowledge it but they don’t actually want to do something about it.

It’s the same deal when reading books like these. Although the ugly history is acknowledged in the title, people want to believe it’s completely in the past when it’s not.

So those expecting to come into the book might turn sour at how Kelleher might be preaching to try and make a point here about how nothing’s changed, and might’ve actually gotten worse in the long run.

It’s really important to engage in these narratives and discussions, but Kelleher is also acknowledging her own privilege by saying she loved to consume in certain ways. Some of the most beautiful and useful objects in the world are created through exploitation.

In the end, this is all about managing expectations!

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