Bright Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined AmericaBy Barbara Ehrenreich
review:
"This utterly original take on the American positive frame of mind 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. With the myth-busting 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."
"Unless you keep on saying that you believe in fairies, Tinker Bell will check out, and what's more, her sad demise will be your fault! Barbara Ehrenreich scores again for the independent-minded in resisting this drool and all those who wallow in it."
~Christopher Hitchens
complete review here
Did you catch her conversation with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show?
ReplyDeleteShe's a pistol (and talks a great deal o' good sense).