He is best known for The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and its History (Oxford, 1986); and From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity (Knopf, 2003).
His most recent book is Haunted: On ghosts, witches, vampires, zombies and other monsters of the natural and supernatural worlds (Yale University Press, 2016).
Each of these works address changing cultural and historical definitions of what otherwise seem to be innate and unchanging emotions and attitudes—the desire for fame, the concept of masculinity, the shape of fear.
In a departure from his scholarly work, Braudy published in 2013 a memoir of his life as a teenager entitled Trying to be Cool: Growing Up in the 1950s.
Subtitled "based on a true story," the book merges scenes from his life in the decade with observations about rock 'n' roll music, science fiction movies, the domestic Cold War, and other aspects of the period.
Subtitled "On ghosts, witches, vampires, zombies, and other monsters of the natural and supernatural world," it traces how fear has been shaped in western culture from the Protestant Reformation to contemporary horror movies.