Details
Synopsis
In 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. Selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2009.
| Size | | Height: | 6.0 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 6.4 oz |
Industry Reviews
"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)
(08/01/2009)
"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)
(08/10/2009)
"[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."
(10/11/2009)
"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."
(10/18/2009)
"[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.' "
(11/08/2009)
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