KARDASHIAN BOOKS I READ FOR MY RESEARCH
When I started with my research on the Kardashians, I never thought I would end up with so many Kardashian books (books written about or by the Kardashians). With the rise of online media, reading books did not seem necessary… Everything is already written online, right? I love using Google for my research. I started to come across different articles referring to quotes stated in different Kardashian books. At one point during my research, I came across a quote written in a book by Sean Smith (Kim Kardashian), which was analyzed in two different articles in different ways. To understand the context of the quote, I decided to buy the book and read it myself.
And so the saga continues…
I figured that I needed to read all the books that the Kardashians have written, to understand how they are branding themselves. I need to know what they say, and how they say it to analyze how they want the message to be. Don't get me wrong, the media and online platforms are great to keep up to date, but there is a difference between owned media and earned media.
Owned media: Media generated by the Kardashians themselves, which helps me to understand their point of view.
Earned media: What the media says about the Kardashians. This helps me to understand how the media frames the Kardashians or how society sees the Kardashians (i.e. through blogs).
For quality purposes, I only read books that are written by the Kardashians themselves or by bestselling authors. Here, I summed up all the books I read from worst to best.
8. Kardashian Dynasty (Ian Halperin) & The Kardashians: An American Drama (Jerry Oppenheimer)
Did I say from worst to best… Yeah, so I haven’t read both of the books yet. I bought them because I want to understand the relationship between the Kardashians & Elvis Presley, and to read more about the Kardashian family (such as the bond between Kris and her sister and the family dynamic of Robert Kardashian).
The Orchard Agency, 2019
Keeping Up With The Kardashians, 2007
7. The Secrets Of My Life (Caitlyn Jenner)
It took me MONTHS to read this book. I honestly did not understand most of it (probably because I didn't really know the background story of Bruce Jenner at the time). This book is interesting if you followed Bruce Jenner as an athlete and Olympics winner and want to know more about her personal story of becoming the woman she is today (or at least the woman she was in 2017 since the book was released that year).
6. The Kim Kardashian Principle (Jeetendr Sehdev)
This book is a very good example of how well marketing works. A good title can get you far! I really thought this book was 100% gonna be about the -unknown- strategies of Kim Kardashian. Unfortunately, the book was more about how PR in general works (or worked, because this book was written in 2017. Media has obviously changed a lot since then). Yes, there were a lot of examples of how Kim K did it. No, I did not learn anything new.
5. Kardashian Konfidential (Kourtney Kardashian Barker, Kim Kardashian & Khloé Kardashian)
This book is something else. It’s like a magazine in disguise (again, great marketing). From their favorite music to tips on how to do your makeup… You can read it all in this book! It does give more insight into the Kardashian sister's personalities. But this book is released in 2010 and people do change and grow a lot in 12 years.
4. Dirty Sexy Money: The Unauthorized Biography of Kris Jenner (Cathy Griffin & Dylan Howard)
Love love love this book! It gives a lot of insights into the life of Kris Jenner and how she started her business. The only thing I didn’t like was how detailed it was written. The writers decided to tell the story from Kris's point of view, adding sentences such as: “she looks at Robert and smiles”. Well, how do you know Kris looked at Robert and smiled? Were you there? I get it, you want a book that's fun to read, but reading these detailed stories does make me second-guess how valid the information is.
3. Strong Looks Better Naked (Khloé Kardashian)
YOU NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK. That is all I’m gonna say ;)
2. Kim Kardashian (Sean Smith)
So this was the first book I read about the Kardashians. The book is well written, not too crazy with the details, and very informative (I honestly learned a lot from this book!). The only thing I miss is the sources to fact-check the information given...
1. Kris Jenner… And All Things Kardashian (Kris Jenner)
My all-time favorite, written by Miss Kris Jenner herself. The book gives Kris Jenner's point of view on how she started her family empire (and is therefore valid to use for research). The book is well written, has lots of details, and is even inspiring for future entrepreneurs. Love love love it! Of course I don’t know if Miss Jenner is lying. But yeah... we'll figure that out later ;)
