Insightful and provocative, but repetitive.
The co-authors of a headline-making 2007 study of college students’ growing self-centeredness take a comprehensive look at the rise of narcissism in American culture and the resulting incivility, exhibitionism and celebrity obsession.
Twenge (Psychology/San Diego State Univ.; Generation Me, 2006) and Campbell (Psychology/Univ. of Georgia; When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself, 2005), draw on a growing body of academic research to offer an analysis of narcissism that goes a long way toward explaining current cultural phenomena, from American Idol to Internet social-networking sites. The authors show how the 1960s emphasis on the greater good morphed into the self-admiration of the ’70s and ’80s, which promoted indulgent parenting, celebrity worship, an obsession with instant fame and a “Look-at-me!” attitude. Noting that the American Psychiatric Association developed a Narcissistic Personality Inventory in the ’80s, the authors stress that their main interest is narcissistic behaviors among normal people that do not merit a clinical diagnosis. Our culture has gone far beyond the good intentions of the self-esteem movement, they argue, too often crossing the line into arrogance and self-centeredness. Narcissism is expressed in materialism (McMansions), self-promotion run amok (YouTube), vapid blogging, too-cute kids’ names, physically intimate but emotionally distant relationships, phoniness in everything from beauty (botox) to fame (faux paparazzi) and a general flight from reality into fantasy. New technologies and the mass media are the enablers of our self-obsession, they write. “It’s as if being famous has become a right,” remarks a sociologist. The authors ground many observations in quantifiable evidence and recognize the difference between useful self-promotion and outright self-absorption. Their suggested remedies are often obvious (education and awareness) or naïve (tell your kids not to watch My Super Sweet 16 on MTV).
Insightful and provocative, but repetitive.Pub Date: April 21, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-7598-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2009
If that promise of clarity is what awaits us all, then death doesn’t seem so awful, and that is a great gift from Sacks. A...
Valediction from the late neurologist and writer Sacks (On the Move: A Life, 2015, etc.).
In this set of four short essays, much-forwarded opinion pieces from the New York Times, the author ponders illness, specifically the metastatic cancer that spread from eye to liver and in doing so foreclosed any possibility of treatment. His brief reflections on that unfortunate development give way to, yes, gratitude as he examines the good things that he has experienced over what, in the end, turned out to be a rather long life after all, lasting 82 years. To be sure, Sacks has regrets about leaving the world, not least of them not being around to see “a thousand…breakthroughs in the physical and biological sciences,” as well as the night sky sprinkled with stars and the yellow legal pads on which he worked sprinkled with words. Sacks works a few familiar tropes and elaborates others. Charmingly, he reflects on his habit since childhood of associating each year of his life with the element of corresponding atomic weight on the periodic table; given polonium’s “intense, murderous radioactivity,” then perhaps 84 isn’t all that it’s cut out to be. There are some glaring repetitions here, unfortunate given the intense brevity of this book, such as his twice citing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s call to revel in “intercourse with the world”—no, not that kind. Yet his thoughts overall—while not as soul-stirringly inspirational as the similar reflections of Randy Pausch or as bent on chasing down the story as Christopher Hitchens’ last book—are shaped into an austere beauty, as when Sacks writes of being able in his final moments to “see my life as from a great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of the connection of all its parts.”
If that promise of clarity is what awaits us all, then death doesn’t seem so awful, and that is a great gift from Sacks. A fitting, lovely farewell.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-451-49293-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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