- Category: Books » Travel Books » United States - South - Kentucky
- Format: Hardcover Learn more about the Hardcover format using Tower WIKI.
- Publisher: Metropolitan Books
- Number of Pages: 240
- ISBN: 0805087494
- WAPI (Tower ID): 113399823
- Release Date: October 13, 2009
- Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
- Tower.com Sales Rank: #17401 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
- #541 in Travel Books (See Top 100 Travel Books Bestsellers)
- #51 in United States - South - Kentucky (See Top 100 United States - South - Kentucky Bestsellers)
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Product DescriptionMore Books by Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)Run a Quick Search on "Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Undermines America" by Barbara Ehrenreich to Browse Related Products:Browse more products related to "Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Undermines America"Browse more products related to "Barbara Ehrenreich"Review"[According to] Barbara Ehrenreich's deeply satisfying book....[a]ll the background noise of America--motivational speakers, positive prayer, the new Journal of Happiness Studies--these are not the markers of happy, well-adjusted psyches uncorrupted by irony, as I have always been led to believe. Instead, Ehrenreich argues convincingly that they are the symptoms of a noxious virus infecting all corners of American life that goes by the name of 'positive thinking.' " "Like the most celebrated of [Ehrenreich's] earlier books...BRIGHT-SIDED scours away the veneer of a conventional wisdom with pointed writing and reporting....[She makes] a compelling case that the positive thinking movement helped to destroy the U.S. economy....Helping us face the truth is Ehrenreich at her best." "[Ehrenreich] thrives on righteous indignation, and she may seem to have found the perfect target with BRIGHT-SIDED. Here is her chance to make a frontal assault on the institutionalized American version of good cheer and to wipe that dopey smile off the happy-face symbol that pervades American culture." "Ehrenreich delivers a trenchant look into the burgeoning business of positive thinking....[She] explores the insistence upon optimism as a cultural and national trait, discovering its 'symbiotic relationship with American capitalism' and how poverty, obesity, unemployment and relationship problems are being marketed as obstacles that can be overcome with the right mindset." (starred review) "In this wide-ranging and stinging look at the pervasiveness of positive thinking, Ehrenreich warns against a 'reckless optimism' that causes individuals--and nations--not to plane for inevitable downturns and disasters." (starred review) Publisher's noteThe best-selling author of Bait and Switch exposes the downside of America's penchant for positive thinking, which she believes leads to self-blame and a preoccupation with stamping out "negative" thoughts on a personal level, and, on a national level, has brought on economic disaster. 150,000 first printing. AnnotationIn this history of positivity, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts Rhonda Byrne (THE SECRET) and her merry brethren of "Law of Attraction" disciples, claiming that America's addiction to optimism is at the heart of many of today's greatest crises. Ehrenreich reports that, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she became the reluctant recipient of daily doses of blithe cheer from friends and doctors, who chastised her for her grim realism in regards to her disease. She saw similar sentiments being spread by preachers on TV, who assure their flock that their suffering is part of God's benign plan, and self-proclaimed experts in "positive psychology," who encourage people to believe that wishful thinking will miraculously produce wealth, health, and prosperity. With her typical insight and acumen, Ehrenreich demonstrates how such empty sanguinity ostracizes people with genuine gripes and prolongs the existence of social oppression and inequality. A sharp-witted knockdown of America's love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism Americans are a "positive" people--cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: this is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive, we are told, is the key to success and prosperity. In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a marginal nineteenth-century healing technique to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude. Evangelical mega-churches preach the good news that you only have to want something to get it, because God wants to "prosper" you. The medical profession prescribes positive thinking for its presumed health benefits. Academia has made room for new departments of "positive psychology" and the "science of happiness." Nowhere, though, has bright-siding taken firmer root than within the business community, where, as Ehrenreich shows, the refusal even to consider negative outcomes--like mortgage defaults--contributed directly to the current economic crisis. With the mythbusting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of America's penchant for positive thinking: On a personal level, it leads to self-blame and a morbid preoccupation with stamping out "negative" thoughts. On a national level, it's brought us an era of irrational optimism resulting in disaster. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science, and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage. If You Enjoy "Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Undermines America (Hardcover)", May We Also Recommend:
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