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Camp!: The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World
By the bestselling author of Fabulosa! and Outrageous! , this reappraisal of camp across time and in all its glorious forms shows how this inescapable part of popular culture has also played an important role in equality movements as a form of protest or resistance.
The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a peacock chair, a wig being pulled off and flushed down the toilet, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a toppled-over Christmas tree, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man dressed as a gladiator, a rat underneath a silver serving platter, and an estate agent wearing tiger face paint.
Fabulously unrestrained and ever-evolving, camp has captured the cultural imagination for at least 150 years. The term possibly derives from the French se camper, meaning to pose in a bold, provocative or exaggerated fashion. Frequently used to define or deride young heterosexual men, the upper classes, Black people, older women and gay men, camp has also played a key role in equality movements.
Paul Baker's highly anticipated reappraisal of camp surveys its touchstones across history and the changing ways that it has been understood. He traces the history of camp from the courts of Louis XIV and trials of Oscar Wilde to the archetypical dandy Beau Brummell and the celebrated playwright Noel Coward; from The Valley of the Dolls, Harlem's drag balls and Brazilian telenovelas through to the modern day divas of Donna Summer, Madonna and Britney Spears.
Celebrating camp as an aesthetic, a sensibility and a way of life, this essential dive into an often-derided phenomenon, shows how camp has been a place of refuge and renewal, of heroism and hedonism, and how it is more powerful than ever.
'Glittering cultural armour for dark times. Paul Baker captures the essentially uncapturable phenomenon making it just knowable for all. My dear, she's on fire!' - Damian Barr, writer and broadcaster
' A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic ’ Financial Times
The following things have seemed impossibly camp to me at one point or a doll whose body acts as a cover for a toilet roll, a peacock chair, a wig being pulled off and flushed down the toilet, a tantrum over wire coat hangers, a toppled-over Christmas tree, a 1950s muscle magazine featuring a photo of a young man dressed as a gladiator, a rat underneath a silver serving platter, and an estate agent wearing tiger face paint.
Fabulously unrestrained and ever-evolving, camp has captured the cultural imagination for at least 150 years. The term possibly derives from the French se camper, meaning to pose in a bold, provocative or exaggerated fashion. Frequently used to define or deride young heterosexual men, the upper classes, Black people, older women and gay men, camp has also played a key role in equality movements.
Paul Baker's highly anticipated reappraisal of camp surveys its touchstones across history and the changing ways that it has been understood. He traces the history of camp from the courts of Louis XIV and trials of Oscar Wilde to the archetypical dandy Beau Brummell and the celebrated playwright Noel Coward; from The Valley of the Dolls, Harlem's drag balls and Brazilian telenovelas through to the modern day divas of Donna Summer, Madonna and Britney Spears.
Celebrating camp as an aesthetic, a sensibility and a way of life, this essential dive into an often-derided phenomenon, shows how camp has been a place of refuge and renewal, of heroism and hedonism, and how it is more powerful than ever.
'Glittering cultural armour for dark times. Paul Baker captures the essentially uncapturable phenomenon making it just knowable for all. My dear, she's on fire!' - Damian Barr, writer and broadcaster
' A snappy guide to an all-conquering aesthetic ’ Financial Times
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 5, 2023
35 people are currently reading
813 people want to read
About the author
Paul Baker
132 books31 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
April 8, 2023
I see a set of possible futures, based on where society might be heading. Imagine, if you will, a world where science and technology have solved most of our problems, and democracy is much less likely to be gamed than it currently is, leaving us in a glorious utopia where everyone has more than enough. We can all be healthy and beautiful, and nobody has to work unless they want to. All of that leisure time and luxury would make princesses out of everyone and I think the ensuing world would be excessively camp, a high-tech version of Versailles, with endless diversions, sexual fluidity, outrageous fashions and shrieks of laughter ringing out everywhere as our robot servants sassed us with their AI algorithms.
I have ‘Fabulosa! The Story of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language’ by Paul Baker on my ‘to read’ list. So I was, er, tickled pink when I managed to bag a Netgalley arc of ‘Camp! The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World’ (yes, Baker does like long book titles with exclamation marks!)
Baker is a Professor of English Language at Lancaster University, so I was unsure what to expect going into this. Instead of a stuffy academic overview, this is a delightful, whimsical, informative, and quite frankly inspiring headlong rush through a swathe of gay history and culture.
Yes, Baker does engage with the seminal ‘Notes on Camp’ by Susan Sontag (1964), to which this seems like a companion piece. With a liberal dash of ‘GuRu’ by Rupaul thrown into the mix. Having finished the book, I still have no idea what camp actually is (you know it when you see it, apparently.)
Though any author who offers a serious discussion of ‘camp’ in the (dizzying) context of Liberace and Trump deserves extra sprinkles of glitter. Probably my favourite section is the account of the shenanigans of Louis XIV. If there is any nation who can camp it up like no tomorrow, it is the French. From Noel Coward to Judy Garland, Madonna, telenovelas and drag … it is all here, and a lot of surprising facts and titbits that I certainly did not know.
There is a lot of right-wing tension globally, with the US determined to make Margaret Atwood a lived reality rather than a (literary) dystopian nightmare. What I loved about ‘Camp!’ is that it makes me proud to be gay, and proud of my culture and the shoulders of all those wonderful people we’ve stood on to get where we are, even if it is rather shitty right now. As Rupaul says, keep on shining and let love win!
I have ‘Fabulosa! The Story of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language’ by Paul Baker on my ‘to read’ list. So I was, er, tickled pink when I managed to bag a Netgalley arc of ‘Camp! The Story of the Attitude that Conquered the World’ (yes, Baker does like long book titles with exclamation marks!)
Baker is a Professor of English Language at Lancaster University, so I was unsure what to expect going into this. Instead of a stuffy academic overview, this is a delightful, whimsical, informative, and quite frankly inspiring headlong rush through a swathe of gay history and culture.
Yes, Baker does engage with the seminal ‘Notes on Camp’ by Susan Sontag (1964), to which this seems like a companion piece. With a liberal dash of ‘GuRu’ by Rupaul thrown into the mix. Having finished the book, I still have no idea what camp actually is (you know it when you see it, apparently.)
Though any author who offers a serious discussion of ‘camp’ in the (dizzying) context of Liberace and Trump deserves extra sprinkles of glitter. Probably my favourite section is the account of the shenanigans of Louis XIV. If there is any nation who can camp it up like no tomorrow, it is the French. From Noel Coward to Judy Garland, Madonna, telenovelas and drag … it is all here, and a lot of surprising facts and titbits that I certainly did not know.
There is a lot of right-wing tension globally, with the US determined to make Margaret Atwood a lived reality rather than a (literary) dystopian nightmare. What I loved about ‘Camp!’ is that it makes me proud to be gay, and proud of my culture and the shoulders of all those wonderful people we’ve stood on to get where we are, even if it is rather shitty right now. As Rupaul says, keep on shining and let love win!
August 23, 2025
Camp is notoriously difficult to define but hits you in the face with the full force of a flamingo’s wing when you see it. This is a comprehensive history of the subject from the Court of Louis XIV to RuPaul’s Drag Race. Much of the terrain under surveillance will be familiar to connoisseurs of camp, and indeed camp connoisseurs, but Baker is an extremely perceptive analyst of all things camp and campy. He is also an unusually convivial writer with his own pleasing line in camp repartee. His text is peppered with autobiographical vignettes that are both funny and illuminating. I particularly enjoyed his reminiscences of watching Dynasty with his family in the 1980s. As a special treat, to enhance their appreciation of this everyday story of oil tycoons, Paul’s mum ‘would buy everyone a small bottle of lemonade and a packet of Smith’s Crispy Tubes crisps (which we viewed as ‘posh’ because they were advertised on television by a tennis umpire who referred to them as ‘rather elegant’)’. This juxtaposition of fantasy wealth and glamour, and real life domestic mundanity, is wonderfully camp in itself.
Susan Sontag, in her famous 1964 essay Notes on Camp, characterised camp as essentially depoliticised or apolitical. Baker provides lots of evidence to the contrary. During the Stonewall riots of 1969, for instance, gays, drag queens and trans people formed a spontaneous chorus line to face the line of helmeted police armed with nightsticks. Performing a Rockettes style synchronised high kicking routine, they sang a defiant song to the tune of ‘Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-ay’: ‘We are the Stonewall girls. We wear our hair in curls. We don’t wear underwear. We show our pubic hair’. As Baker says: ‘It’s all in the context - and in certain circumstances, being camp is the ultimate political statement, where simply walking down the street or opening your mouth to speak is an act of rebellion’. I’ll drink to that, and also this treasurable philosophical nugget from Nancy Mitford: ‘Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake’. This excellent book is stuffed full with life-enhancing currants.
Susan Sontag, in her famous 1964 essay Notes on Camp, characterised camp as essentially depoliticised or apolitical. Baker provides lots of evidence to the contrary. During the Stonewall riots of 1969, for instance, gays, drag queens and trans people formed a spontaneous chorus line to face the line of helmeted police armed with nightsticks. Performing a Rockettes style synchronised high kicking routine, they sang a defiant song to the tune of ‘Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-ay’: ‘We are the Stonewall girls. We wear our hair in curls. We don’t wear underwear. We show our pubic hair’. As Baker says: ‘It’s all in the context - and in certain circumstances, being camp is the ultimate political statement, where simply walking down the street or opening your mouth to speak is an act of rebellion’. I’ll drink to that, and also this treasurable philosophical nugget from Nancy Mitford: ‘Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake’. This excellent book is stuffed full with life-enhancing currants.
November 18, 2025
“Now, be gone, before someone drops a house on you!”
Must-read for anyone interested in camp!
Must-read for anyone interested in camp!
December 27, 2023
Absolutely fabulosa darling!
I loved this, I loved everything about it. I ravished the words with glee.
Randomly my copy is a paperback uncorrected proof copy (bought secondhand) so no Josephine Baker on the front for me 😕 and no barcode to enter into GR but who cares, still fabulous and I'ma keepin this one!
🌈🦄🏳️🌈🦄🏳️⚧️🦄❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🤍
I loved this, I loved everything about it. I ravished the words with glee.
Randomly my copy is a paperback uncorrected proof copy (bought secondhand) so no Josephine Baker on the front for me 😕 and no barcode to enter into GR but who cares, still fabulous and I'ma keepin this one!
🌈🦄🏳️🌈🦄🏳️⚧️🦄❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜🤎🤍
June 26, 2025
(3,5 stars)
This book provides a very extensive history of camp and the author most definitely comes off as well-informed. I think that the many examples that are brought up are both a strength and a pitfall. Though they do help to paint a picture of what 'camp' entails, the many examples do make the book feel more dense than it perhaps should have been, especially when one is unfamiliar with the paricular examples. Then again, they do make it clearer what 'camp' entails and provide the viewer with a long list of movies (and other media) to consume if they want to experience the campiness for themselves.
This book provides a very extensive history of camp and the author most definitely comes off as well-informed. I think that the many examples that are brought up are both a strength and a pitfall. Though they do help to paint a picture of what 'camp' entails, the many examples do make the book feel more dense than it perhaps should have been, especially when one is unfamiliar with the paricular examples. Then again, they do make it clearer what 'camp' entails and provide the viewer with a long list of movies (and other media) to consume if they want to experience the campiness for themselves.
November 13, 2023
FAB-U-LOUS!!!!!!!!! I've written pretty extensively on Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on Camp," but this is a HISTORY of camp that starts with Louis XIV, its inventor, and proceeds into the 21st century, ending - well, not quite but close - with the 2019 Met Gala, the subject of which was "Camp". It's British, but the American version of camp is very well covered. This was just fun to read, and if you want to do some reading in cultural history, you could do worse than start with this book. Trust me on that.
September 10, 2023
While much of this is back to basics with those of us highly familiar with the culture of camp, it's written about in such an entertaining way here. I particularly enjoyed how it details the whole history. Not just starting with Sontag's Notes on Camp, it goes right because to royalty and camp throughout history. And on the other side, right up to Drag Race and soap operas more recently. It's a history, an observation of change, a library of recommendations. Throroughly enjoyed.
August 22, 2023
i love camp.
5/5
5/5
April 3, 2024
I've been reading a lot of Sontag lately and stumbled upon this book while reading Against Interpretation and Other Essays. As a result, I had expectations that weren't necessarily set by the author himself. This is not nearly as analytical as "Notes on 'Camp'," but that's a high bar that almost no one could reach.
Nevertheless, I found Camp! to be lacking in virtually any engagement with its subject matter, beyond a few blandly worded paraphrases of things I've heard before. It's like a drag ball with no category: an endless parade of historical events and pieces of media with no cohesion between them. I didn't come away from this with a better understanding of camp, just a compilation of other resources that might point me in the right direction. This is not a book about camp, but a book about things that are camp, or rather, an extensive list of movies and TV shows that the author likes which happen to be camp (by a broad definition), at least toward the end.
Which I don't mind. To understand what camp is, we first have to know what is camp. And I learned a lot that I didn't know, particularly about what the British were doing while Faye Dunaway was chopping down trees. In this sense, I think this is a useful book for categorizing camp, but not so much for defining it or unpacking it. I guess what I'm saying is: Susan Sontag, you're still the only art critic.
Nevertheless, I found Camp! to be lacking in virtually any engagement with its subject matter, beyond a few blandly worded paraphrases of things I've heard before. It's like a drag ball with no category: an endless parade of historical events and pieces of media with no cohesion between them. I didn't come away from this with a better understanding of camp, just a compilation of other resources that might point me in the right direction. This is not a book about camp, but a book about things that are camp, or rather, an extensive list of movies and TV shows that the author likes which happen to be camp (by a broad definition), at least toward the end.
Which I don't mind. To understand what camp is, we first have to know what is camp. And I learned a lot that I didn't know, particularly about what the British were doing while Faye Dunaway was chopping down trees. In this sense, I think this is a useful book for categorizing camp, but not so much for defining it or unpacking it. I guess what I'm saying is: Susan Sontag, you're still the only art critic.
March 20, 2024
A collection of campery from Versailles to RuPaul. Very much an index the author’s own touchstones of camp, firmly rooted in US / UK examples. Doesn’t shy away from considering cases of problematic appropriation and sexism but on the whole is pretty light on analysis, more one man’s encyclopaedia of camp than one man’s thesis. In fact, Baker finds academic analysis too dreary for camp, reprinting the densest Judith Butler passage he can find to make this point. It’s a shot made cheaply, not a particularly witty (or camp) one - touché.
Worth reading but didn’t really broaden any horizons.
I did love being introduced to Nancy Mitford - ‘Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currents in the cake, and here is one of them.’ Even on her deathbed, after years of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she managed, ‘It’s very curious, dying, and would have many a drôle amusing & charming side were it not for the pain.’
Worth reading but didn’t really broaden any horizons.
I did love being introduced to Nancy Mitford - ‘Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currents in the cake, and here is one of them.’ Even on her deathbed, after years of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she managed, ‘It’s very curious, dying, and would have many a drôle amusing & charming side were it not for the pain.’
May 27, 2024
This was a brilliant, well-researched and thoroughly in depth exploration of camp. I really enjoyed how each chapter had a set theme and explored many socio-historical aspects of camp, queer culture, LGBTQ+ rights and wider world events. I also liked that there were pictures to accompany various explanations, so it didn’t feel overwhelmingly academic. It was also very funny, which again made the work more approachable and accessible than a traditional academic text.
It took me a long time to read, as I struggle to get into non-fiction books, but I genuinely loved it and it’s a great starter for learning more about queer history, camp, black queer history and queer social justice issues. I’d love to read more of Baker’s other academic works, and definitely recommend this book to friends!! 5 ⭐️
It took me a long time to read, as I struggle to get into non-fiction books, but I genuinely loved it and it’s a great starter for learning more about queer history, camp, black queer history and queer social justice issues. I’d love to read more of Baker’s other academic works, and definitely recommend this book to friends!! 5 ⭐️
May 16, 2023
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
An exploration of Camp throughout history, its impact on mainstream culture, its origins, and beyond. This started with a bang. It was so informative, so interesting and full of tidbits that I found myself discussing with people immediately.
Unfortunately, as we move forward in time, I think this drops off a little in pacing. Or perhaps it’s just that more of it was fresh in my memory, so it seemed less “new”. Who knows? Thoroughly enjoyed the endless pop culture references (although, play a drinking game and take a shot every time RuPaul is mentioned. Even when he’s not directly relevant)
Overall, I’d definitely recommend to people interested in the subject.
An exploration of Camp throughout history, its impact on mainstream culture, its origins, and beyond. This started with a bang. It was so informative, so interesting and full of tidbits that I found myself discussing with people immediately.
Unfortunately, as we move forward in time, I think this drops off a little in pacing. Or perhaps it’s just that more of it was fresh in my memory, so it seemed less “new”. Who knows? Thoroughly enjoyed the endless pop culture references (although, play a drinking game and take a shot every time RuPaul is mentioned. Even when he’s not directly relevant)
Overall, I’d definitely recommend to people interested in the subject.
July 18, 2023
As someone who has enjoyed Paul Baker's other books, this absolutely does not disappoint, and in many ways builds on some of the key themes and moments from his other books (Polari, Section 28 and more).
Although 'camp' can be quite a slippery concept, Baker delves into the many ways that it has shown up for pure enjoyment and for activism. The end portion of this book really delivers that punch, identifying the importance of camp as resistance, and I found this profound, especially from a British context.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Although 'camp' can be quite a slippery concept, Baker delves into the many ways that it has shown up for pure enjoyment and for activism. The end portion of this book really delivers that punch, identifying the importance of camp as resistance, and I found this profound, especially from a British context.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 18, 2023
As an American reading this, the U.S. stuff is extremely well-trodden territory. Which I guess isn't the book's fault! With that said I wanted this to go a bit deeper and I don't know about the part where he grouses about the impenetrablity of academic texts. Dude should know not all of academia is Judith Butler. But in general, this was fun and turned me onto fascinating UK cultural artifacts especially. A minor correction - Sylvester didn't cover "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real". That is definitely his and Patrick Cowley's song.
March 18, 2024
3.5 stars. Well-researched and thoughtful history of camp from an author with an infectious love and respect for the concept. I think it was tougher for me to get through because I didn’t know the vast majority of the references, but I enjoyed reading about them anyway. I always love learning more about my queer history. After the first half, it read more like a list of tv shows and movie synposis than a narrative history, which threw me off a bit. But the care evident in the storytelling kept me going until the end. Glad i can finally know when I’m using “that’s camp” correctly.
June 26, 2024
this is honestly a great read, and i had no problem with it being mainly centered in anglo-saxon culture because, well, the author is british. i did take issue with it when he insinuated that camp itself can be mainly exclusively understood by anglo-saxon culture, especially when he did acknowledge that many aspects of camp had french, bollywood and telenovela influences.
i agree that any aspect of humor can be lost in both literal and cultural translation, and i'm not infuriated by this i just think it's a very annoyingly british thing to say.
i agree that any aspect of humor can be lost in both literal and cultural translation, and i'm not infuriated by this i just think it's a very annoyingly british thing to say.
March 18, 2025
I really liked this! Two quick nitpicks because these were the things I know - Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were trans women and Nightmare on Elm street 2 has homophobic subtext. I feel like Marsha’s and Sylvia’s identities were depicted through their quotes but the author didn’t really state it so that’s just a point of clarity! I also just wish the author specified that Nightmare on elm street 2 was anti-gay/homophobic subtext. Yes campy movie, yes gay subtext, but when the villain is the stand in for identity, that is not positive subtext!
October 22, 2025
A fabulous bit of accessible social history and cultural critique. Engagingly written. It fell, in my opinion, into the more 'pop history' side of things, as far as historical analysis went, but understandable considering the author's expertise is language. Always wonderful to read about queer culture when examined by someone with an obvious love and appreciation for it, with autobiographical touchstones throughout.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
October 17, 2023
I thought I knew camp but man do I know camp now! What an enjoyable read bringing gender studies and queer history to my everyday life. I really loved learning with this book and I found it really enjoyable to read something so carefully thought out. Was a little bummed since most of the references centered around British pop culture but the learnings still stand!
November 5, 2023
I was suckered by this humorous campy writing as well as great information. The vignettes that open each chapter are entertaining. The writing style is on point. There were enough references to familiar things that I could connect to the other media. I love how this blended film, literature, and biography.
December 16, 2024
Delightful! There were so many moments of recognition in this book, seeing my own camp tastes and sensibilities reflected back at me. Now I truly understand why Agatha Christie appealed so much to me as a boy. Plus I now have a good list of camp films to catch up with. A fun and thought provoking read.
April 15, 2025
An excellent history of camp as an aesthetic and approach to life and humor, which covers both the academic side of things (we spend plenty of time with Susan Sontag) and examples of camp from throughout history. I especially appreciated how Baker focuses on bringing in nonwhite examples that haven’t been as directly or strongly associated with camp.
January 7, 2024
This was a fun ride, wish the author did more research or his editor was better at catching things like the mistakes he made in discussing the ballroom scene not even mentioning Willi Ninja who created the dance style. It was a bit disappointing lol
April 21, 2024
Probably the most accessible book on the topic of camp I've yet to read. He cuts through the theorist jargon that bogs down most writing on the topic while still explaining the basics to you through interesting examples.
July 19, 2024
While I was surprised by how personal the book was, I learned a lot. And although it took a long time to get there, it was nice to hear about pop culture relevant to my life, ex. Met Gala camp version and Lil Nas X!
July 29, 2024
I’ve enjoyed this book, I enjoyed it alongside watching videos on YouTube too.
I’ve been described as camp for years, and I use camp as a way to bring colour into the world, make me feel happier. The book was the best, I’ve wanted to read it for a while now, and I’m glad I did.
I’ve been described as camp for years, and I use camp as a way to bring colour into the world, make me feel happier. The book was the best, I’ve wanted to read it for a while now, and I’m glad I did.
March 18, 2024
🪞🌼 Looking camp in the eye 🌼👁️
I've always known camp and so not much of this was ABSOLUTELY unknown to me- but it was so entertaining!
I've always known camp and so not much of this was ABSOLUTELY unknown to me- but it was so entertaining!
September 8, 2024
Simply fabulous, dahling!
November 16, 2024
Loved this, I've seen a lot of the films mentioned in this book, but am so excited to learn of more. This was a highly enjoyable read!
January 23, 2025
👀
3.5 🌟
fun romp through the history of camp, felt like I would have liked to have stayed longer over fewer camp touchstones rather than whizzing through many
3.5 🌟
fun romp through the history of camp, felt like I would have liked to have stayed longer over fewer camp touchstones rather than whizzing through many
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews