BC Associate Professor of Communication Michael Serazio’s new book, The Authenticity Industries: Keeping It ‘Real’ in Media, Culture, and Politics (Standford University Press, 2023), examines the ways in which presentations of “authenticity” have been used by celebrities, politicians, and marketers who recognize the concept’s power to connect with consumers at a time when people are searching for something that feels genuine and true. But, ironically, authenticity’s not actually real: it’s as fabricated as it is ubiquitous. Drawing upon dozens of interviews with campaign consultants, advertising executives, tech company leadership, and entertainment industry gatekeepers, Serazio examines the practices that make people, products, and platforms seem “authentic” in today’s media, culture, and politics. Serazio is also the author of The Power of Sports: Media and Spectacle in American Culture and Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerrilla Marketing. Serazio talked about his book and Americans’ craving for authenticity in this interview with Boston College Magazine.