American Mania: When More is Not Enough
AWARDS:
Despite an astonishing appetite for life, more and more Americans are feeling overworked and dissatisfied. In the world’s most affluent nation, epidemic rates of stress, anxiety, depression, obesity and time urgency are now grudgingly accepted as part of everyday existence—they signal the American Dream gone awry. "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it!"... George Carlin Peter Whybrow grounds the extraordinary achievements and excessive consumption of the American nation in an understanding of the biology of human craving and the reward system of the brain—offering for the first time a comprehensive explanation for the addictive mania of consumerism. Whybrow’s analysis combines careful reflection on the roots of America's "exceptional" culture and its laissez-faire, competitive free market economy, with an exploration of the nation’s migrant temperament and its role in the creation of our ambitious, restless society. Taking into account our ancestral biology, he sheds critical light on the dangerous misfit emerging between our consumer driven market system and the brain circuits that evolved to deal with privation 200,000 years ago. In the absence of any controls—any cultural or economic constraints—we are easily hijacked by our acquisitive, pleasure seeking behaviors. Drawing upon rich scientific case studies and fascinating portraits, American Mania presents a clear and novel vantage point from which to understand the most pressing social and medical issues of our time, and also offers readers an informed approach to addressing these problems in their individual lives. "Whybrow has seen the future." Irene Lacher, The New York Times |
 Graphics: Peter Durand 2009
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