The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption

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

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 youll 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.

Reviews

There are writers you want to read on every subject, because they are able to whip up such stylish, intricate, and sparkling prose that they elevate every paragraph to an event.Katy Kelleheris such a writer her sentences are as beautiful as the diamonds and marble surfaces she writes about, but contain far more depth. Her research shines through every page of this book without ever weighing it down. Kelleher has pulled off a magic trick: she has written a book that is both sumptuousand airy, rich and gossamer. I inhaled it.Rachel Syme, Staff Writer,The New Yorker

A lovely book. Kelleher's voice is curious and full of insight into the often dark histories of the things we call beautiful. By the end of this book, you'll want to go pick some flowers and listen to the ocean out of a conch shell, empowered by the knowledge of where that desire comes from. Rax King,Author of Tacky and co-host of the podcast Low Culture Boil

"Fascinating and richly researched. You'll never smell a rose or stroke a silk blouse quite the same way again even if, like Kelleher, you cant stop loving them." Alexandra Lange, author of Meet Me Bythe Fountain

"Katy Kelleher'sThe Ugly History of Beautiful Thingsis an astonishingaccomplishment--for its insight, its honesty, and itswillingness to ask difficultquestions and probe the darkest corners of humannature for the answers. Without judgment or preciousness, Kelleher takes us on a journey into the complexity, power, necessity, and aliveness of beauty. This book's strengths are many, but above all, it is Kelleher's restless, thrilling curiosity itself--which she turns inward as much as outward--that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page."Chlo Cooper Jones, author ofEasy Beauty

Fascinating, compelling, and at times unnervingKelleher's deep dive into the nature of beauty and the material reality that lurks beneath its surface lingers in your mind long after you've put it down.Colin Dickey, author of Ghostland

Kelleher has always been obsessed with beauty, and this poetic book is a careful study of its ambiguity and meaning.Kirkus Reviews

"Kellehers engrossing essays cogently explore the unsettling dichotomy between the precious and the problematic, the seedy and the sublime to vividly reveal the pleasures and perils in pursuit of ideal beauty.Booklist (starred review)



Kelleher eloquently interrogates the allure of luxury items even as she remains clear-eyed about the damaging social expectations that drive their valueThe authors perceptive analysis and self-reflection raise intriguing questions about consumerism, aesthetics, and gendered understandings of beauty. The result is a thoughtful offering as precious as the goods studied.Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Katy Kelleher is an art, design, nature, and science writer living in the woods of Maine. Her work has appeared in the pages of theNew York Times,The Guardian,American Scholar, andTown & Country. Shes written online forVogue,Harpers Bazaar,Jezebel, and others. Shes a frequent contributor toThe Paris Reviewand spent several years writing a popular column on color, Hues Hue. Her essays have been anthologized in bothBest American Food WritingandBest American Science and Nature Writing.