Self-help Nation

"There is currently a terrifying cultural epidemic sweeping across America. Every year, we waste millions of dollars on books that promise to fix all our problems. Each tome proves to be a resounding thud, and yet we continue to buy them, hoping for that nonexistent magic bullet that will solve all our problems and leave us happy ever after." "In Self-Help Nation, the authors of these books get their comeuppance at last as veteran journalist Tom Tiede issues a fiery and devastatingly funny attack on their infernal industry and the culture that supports it." "Discerning readers will revel in Tiede's salvos against the most infamous self-help books, the ones that have unfortunately sold millions of copies and come to define this dismal genre. He takes M. Scott Peck to task, showing how Peck's "insights" are nothing more than platitudes from a wealthy psychiatrist whose idea of adversity is being pressured by his rich parents to attend Exeter. Tiede excoriates Dr. Laura Schlessinger for her unoriginal and unimpressive thinking, pointing out that her moralizing smacks of hypocrisy when there are pictures of her in the nude with a man other than her husband. He also cudgels Susan Forward (Toxic Parents), Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking), Leo Buscaglia (Bus 9 to Paradise), and other self-helpsters whose books have contributed so little to our national well-being."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved