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Smile Or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America And The World (2008)

by Barbara Ehrenreich(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1847081355 (ISBN13: 9781847081353)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Granta

review 1: I am no fan of the “law of attraction” and prosperity-gospel preachers, but I think Ms Ehrenreich never really figured out what she was after with this book. For much of the book it seemed as if it was just a platform for her to condemn people who lack her critical thinking skills. She certainly didn’t establish that positive thinking has undermined America. The one exception is evidence that positive thinking contributed to the financial meltdown: “pastors like [Joel] Osteen reassured low-income people with subprime mortgages by getting them to believe that ‘God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and bless me with my first house.’” This may be true, but there were a lot of other causes for the crisis.In addition, positive thinking does help people. Ms... more Ehrenreich was in the market for a new house while working on this book and got to know a realtor. One day while driving around with the realtor she happened to mention her project. The realtor sheepishly pointed to her back seat, which was cluttered with positive-thinking audio books. It turns out the realtor had come from a working-class background and had never been taught how to set goals or motivate herself. Then her real estate company brought in a consultant for a week-long seminar on “goal-setting, positive thinking, visualization, and getting out of your comfort zone.” This experience enabled the woman to, for the first time, see herself as a “self-determining individual and potential success.” Ms. Ehrenreich barely paused in her sneering with this story, but it occurred to me that perhaps her entire argument was based on a condescending elitist attitude. She had been raised by a father who was a strong-willed self-starter, and this ability had been bred into her from infancy. But what about those people, like the realtor, who are never trained how to use their will?Overall: disappointing.
review 2: While I definitely agree with the author's well-reasoned conclusions, I don't think it required an entire book to make her point...or maybe I feel that way because I already had a strong belief in the conclusions she came to.My parents tried to bring me up in the silliness of the Christian Science religion, and I found it very interesting to read the author's research on how it was so connected to the optimism of today. I was amused at her assertion that the ideas for the religion were stolen from someone else. I had long wondered how anyone (my family included) could possibly believe in Christian Science, but now I understand how folks were hoodwinked by it. For that alone, I would recommend the book. less

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