'The argument of Nick Clarke's challenging book is a disturbing one. He says we are no longer the tough, realistic people who were content with small pleasures, spent little and cheerfully survived the Blitz, the World War and the belt-tightening rationing of the post-war Labour government. Instead of that, we have become the victims of dream merchants. We live life second-hand' John Mortimer, Daily Mail In a society obsessed with shallow celebrity and our 'fifteen minutes' of fame, have we lost sight of real values? In this controversial and eye-opening book, Nick Clarke uses the lives of six celebrities to show how the media has infiltrated our national psyche. Once a proud nation, we now seem to prefer docu-soaps and fly-on-the-wall dramas to real political and social involvement. So what does this bode for the future of our nation?