Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

Bright-sided

How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
Jun 14, 2017diannehildebrand rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The phenomenon of positive thinking has irritated me in a vague way for quite some time. Ehrenreich's book has given me a huge amount of background information about the culturally almost unquestioned "science of happiness." The whole book except for the last chapter describes the history and current status of what often seems like a cult of positive thinking. Who knew you could get a master's degree in positive psychology? Ehrenreich carries the description through pop psychology, self-help genres, academia, business, religion and politics, not hesitating to depict the latter as the most pernicious of all the incarnations in totalitarian regimes where dissent is not permitted. She points out in the final chapter that the opposite of positive thinking does not need to be negative thinking but rather realistic thinking where problems can be freely identified and thus solved. The book's dedication reads: To complainers everywhere: Turn up the volume!