BOOK CLUB May: Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic

[CrispyQ]

I read this book a few years ago & thought they made some great observations. I look forward to re-reading it & hearing what others think about it. One of the comments made,that I thought was spot on, was that Americans have traded in their citizenship to become consumers.

BTW, the cartoons by David Horsey are great.

Here's a link to the book, via the DU homepage so DU gets credit. Also, don't forget to check your local library!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576751996/qid=1115062879/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-2187220-5227244

[ananda]

1. indeed

The WASP-materialist worldview has achieved the status of an iconic meme these days, and it's like a blob that creeps and grows everywhere.

Sue

[hfojvt]

2. easier to find at the library since it is not new

Easier than the new books I mean, which are usually out on a waiting list. I had to wait about six weeks for "Confessions of an Economic Hit man"

I got the book this afternoon, and have not read much. I cannot seem to tear myself away from the computer to read an actual book any more. Tomorrow starts the work week for me, so I will try to read during my lunch break.

I checked the index and there is no mention of Paul Wachtel, author of the great book "The Poverty of Affluence", nor of E.F. Schumacher, author of the great book "Small is Beautiful" both of which discuss the same issues. The book is talking about the "American Dream" which reminded me of the book "Waking up from the American Dream" which I found in a pile of free books when I was starting graduate school. That was the book which lead me to Schumacher because it quoted him quite a bit. Schumacher lead me to R.H. Tawney, author of the great book "The Acquisitive Society". Tawney is only mentioned in this book as a secondary citation.

Juliet Schor, author of the great book "The Overworked American" is mentioned 7 times.

Not that I am concluding anything from this. Juliet's book is great even though it makes only passing reference to Schumacher, calling him "Edward", although I believe he went by "Fritz". Still, her work was not in the same vein as this one seems to be quite similar to Wachtel and Tawney. They also make no mention of Scott Nearing, whose much earlier work "The Good Life" has many things to say about alternatives to the "American Dream" just as much as Thoreau.

[CrispyQ]

3. I'm finishing Senator Byrd's book right now, but after all the

crap in the news the past few days, I needed a lift, so I went through the book last night & read all the Horsey cartoons. Horsey is great! They are good & to the point. I am partial to this one, though:

Looking outside, from the inside of the living room, a couple stands on their front porch looking out on their peaceful neighborhood. Mr Jones says, "I thank my lucky stars we live in a quiet place where our kids aren't influenced by gangs & the violence of the big city!" Inside the living room the kid is blowing away every living thing on a violent video game.

For more Horsey: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/

[hfojvt]

4. is it early in the month? It is the 16th now.

Hello. Is anyone else reading this book?

I have gotten to where they talk about William Morris. I love William Morris, but they do not mention his book "News from Nowhere" which is an inspiring alternative vision. Of course, I love Bellamy's "Looking Backward" as well and Morris wrote his as an alternative to Bellamy.

I had to laugh at this "Thomas Monaghan ... founder of Domino's Pizza ... he even sold his Detroit Tigers baseball team because it was just a 'source of excessive pride'." It seems that since he sold them, they are not going to be a source of pride since they have stunk.

Monaghan is a fundy. At least I read some of his story in Guideposts (which my mother always got and probably still gets). He wrote about how he got rich and bought the Detroit Tigers. Although he was "successful", he did not claim to be 'self-made' but rather 'God-made'.

[hfojvt]

5. On shopping addictions

On page 105, they write about shopping as an addiction. "The addicted shopper seeks the high she felt a few days earlier, when she bought a dress she still hasn't taken out of the box." I was reminded of when I had my bookstore. I got a shipment of new books almost every week - books I ordered, of course. But still, for me, it was like Clausmas every week. Oooh, ooh, ooh, what did I get? Open it, open it, open it. Cool, the latest Calvin and Hobbes. Neat, a huge book about the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" with lots of pictures. Wow, a 25th anniversary book of Saturday Night Live, etc.
Of course, they were to sell, not to keep (except the Wonderful Life and Calvin and Hobbes, I bought five or ten of them, and one had my name on it.) It made me think that maybe thirty years ago there were more people who owned small shops or neighborhood groceries and thus they had outlets for a shopping bug - they bought wholesale for future retail.