On Divas

A critic’s notebook on sparkle and spectacle. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine’s 165-year archive.

A collection of essays on musicians, celebrities, and aesthetic movements and moments that, taken together, characterizes the often used, yet widely misunderstood term diva. On Divas offers readers an original understanding of an age-old phenomenon by drawing together figures as diverse as Beyoncé, Björk, and Donald Trump. With keen insight and genuine enthusiasm, Spencer Kornhaber illustrates how willfulness, pleasure, spectacular self-involvement, and the public’s blend of adoration and resentment define divadom.Spencer Kornhaber is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers music and popular culture. Prior to joining The Atlantic as an editor in 2011, he wrote for Spin, The A.V. Club, and OC Weekly. In 2019, he won the Excellence in Column Writing Award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.