The Ugly History of Beautiful Things

Essays on Desire and Consumption

De: Katy Kelleher

Narrado por: Cindy Kay

Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects.

April recommended reading by the New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Goodreads, Jezebel, Christian Science Monitor, All Arts, and the Next Big Idea Club
One of Curbed’s and Globe and Mail’s (Toronto) best books of the spring
A most anticipated book of 2023 by The Millions

Katy Kelleher has spent much of her life chasing beauty. As a child, she uprooted handfuls of purple, fragrant little flowers from the earth, plucked iridescent seashells from the beach, and dug for turquoise stones in her backyard. As a teenager she applied glittery shimmer to her eyelids after religiously dabbing on her signature scent of orange blossoms and jasmine. And as an adult, she coveted gleaming marble countertops and delicate porcelain to beautify her home. This obsession with beauty led her to become a home, garden, and design writer, where she studied how beautiful things are mined, grown, made, and enhanced. In researching these objects, Kelleher concluded that most of us are blind to the true cost of our desires. Because whenever you find something unbearably beautiful, look closer, and you’ll inevitably find a shadow of decay lurking underneath.

In these dazzling and deeply researched essays, Katy Kelleher blends science, history, and memoir to uncover the dark underbellies of our favorite goods. She reveals the crushed beetle shells in our lipstick, the musk of rodents in our perfume, and the burnt cow bones baked into our dishware. She untangles the secret history of silk and muses on her problematic prom dress. She tells the story of countless workers dying in their efforts to bring us shiny rocks from unsafe mines that shatter and wound the earth, all because a diamond company created a compelling ad. She examines the enduring appeal of the beautiful dead girl and the sad fate of the ugly mollusk. With prose as stunning as the objects she describes, Kelleher invites readers to examine their own relationships with the beautiful objects that adorn their body and grace their homes.

And yet, Kelleher argues that while we have a moral imperative to understand our relationship to desire, we are not evil or weak for desiring beauty. The Ugly History of Beautiful Things opens our eyes to beauty that surrounds us, helps us understand how that beauty came to be, what price was paid and by whom, and how we can most ethically partake in the beauty of the world.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"These reflections by a thoughtful observer of contemporary life strive to expand our awareness of the things we appreciate to include their darker aspects—the Asian children who make our clothing, the animal cruelty required for perfumes, the morality of factory farms. Cindy Kay’s performance conveys an eagerness to be understood that is at the heart of Katy Kelleher’s writing. The Maine author writes like she believes in her observations and impressive research but is not sure she’s reaching her audience. Kay’s performance captures this desire to communicate in a way that makes this audiobook exceptionally personal. Succeeding as a memoir and a message of social conscience, this audiobook will move listeners to think with broader sensibilities about what they enjoy."

Lovely work

The wording of this book was truly magnetic. Even when I was hearing some terrible things, I couldn’t turn away. It made me really reconsider my ideas on beauty and made me curious about what I find beautiful and why.

I loved this book!

This book is absolutely gorgeous. I learned lovely things and terrible things and I couldn't put it down!