Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure by Amy Kaufman

The Bachelor franchise remains immensely popular. At the time of this post, 29 seasons of The Bachelor have aired, 20 seasons of The Bachelorette have aired, and 17 seasons of various other spin-offs have aired. It is undeniably a phenomenon.

Los Angeles Times journalist Amy Kaufman set out to make the first definitive cultural history of the show. One quick note is that this book came out originally in 2018, so there have been seasons of the main two shows and even new spinoffs that she does not cover.

That said, Kaufman does a pretty good job expanding on a lot of what many of us fans know about the show. I wish she'd been able to get more interviews, but she clearly tried and acknowledges where contestants' and crew members' contracts have probably prevented them from saying more (or anything).

I also wish Kaufman had done more to situate the franchise within the larger world of reality dating. That said, that genre has greatly expanded since this book's publication, so perhaps this is something she could expand upon in a new edition.

I listened to the audiobook, so my perception of Kaufman's words are influenced by that. But, at times, I felt she was delivering direct quotes in a way to try and make the quoted sound as vapid, vain, and even valley girl as possible. I do not mean to claim that none of those qualities could be applied (at least to some extent) to the quoted, but it did not feel genuine and her delivery made it difficult to decipher the quoted's true intent.

As an on and off fan of the franchise, I definitely learned some things from this book, but I just felt it could have done more. 

Kaufman's conclusion was the strongest portion of the book. She points out that it tends to be media that women consume that is ultimately described as "guilty pleasures". Thus, Kaufman argues, we should either also describe media that primarily men consume (e.g. professional football) as "guilty pleasures" (e.g. the severe threat of life and personality changing head trauma), or we should find a more nuanced way of describing everyone's relationship with media that is imperfect or even harmful.

Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America's Favorite Guilty Pleasure by Amy Kaufman, Dutton