Highly recommend Leo Braudy’s “Frenzy of Renown”. Basically considered the default text in the field of celebrity studies.

Braudy’s hypothesis is the celebrity has always been an inherently quasi-religious phenomenon. Religious only in the sense though of being post-death or of having an afterlife. Attaining celebrity is a transcendent goal in each generation a few can reach.

Every era of society has a means of attaining life in the next world. This is often seen as the ultimate purpose / highest goal one can achieve. The best way to attain this is being known in eras beyond the one you live in. Sometimes this is via extreme piousness (sainthood), military and political conquest (history), or in modern conceptions, being so extremely known in the present it simulates a forever-knowing effect through everyone-knowing.

Wish I could describe it better, but here is the book: https://www.amazon.com/Frenzy-Renown-Fame-Its-History/dp/067...

Europe has a bad history with records misused to later pursue political enemies. The records the Germans used come to mind, but also things like the Staszi secret police in East Germany.

Interestingly, a lot of stuff that just “works” in America is dangerous when exported abroad. This is a strange sociological concept I only encountered recently, but one example is that the American conception of “fame”, dating back to PT Barnum‘s days, was an impetus for fascism in America. So something that’s “culturally safe” in the US due to our history and institutions can be dangerous when exported abroad.

For more information, check out the book “The Frenzy of Renown”.

The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679776303/