by Hammer and Hand do all things stand...

books:


	• Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations Christopher Lasch W. W. Norton & Company, 1991 - 302 pages average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

by Hammer and Hand do all things stand...

I really enjoyed reading this book. The two or three week nights it took seemed pretty straight forward to me (and believe me when I say this: I do not suffer fools...I can suffer lots of other sorts...but if I peg an author for a fool...her or his book's toast.). Then again concepts like spirituality seem as concrete to me as the notion of sexuality seems to be for everyone else. Anyway, I'm sorry that not everyone who tries can experience the apparently hard pleasures found in these writings.

Powerful Indictment of U.S. Culture

Christopher Lasch (1932-1994) published this cynical indictment of U.S. culture in the late 1970's, and many say its message is just as true today. The author attacks consumerism and selfishness, particularly among those baby boomers from the so-called Me Generation that had known only post-war prosperity. Professor Lasch is rightly bothered by family breakup, a lack of committment, youth cultism, and celebrity worship, while many decry the sterile, car-dependent-suburban-strip-mall materialism that's taken hold. The author largely blames the left for this cultural downfall, which is ironic. Why? A year after this book arrived Reaganism came in, with its great emphasis on materialism and individualism, plus near-contempt for the downtrodden and efforts to help them.

The author should have credit those baby boomers that struggled for civil rights or volunteered for the military or peace corps. Additionally, his fast-paced style is a bit unclear; our college class found his prose confusing. Still, this is a powerful indictment, and one can only guess how Lasch would view contemporary symmbols like Jerry Springer, Paris Hilton, and athletes on steroids.

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Superbly Written and Incisive Critique

Christopher Lasch is intellect, you sense it as you read a flowing description of well-structured prose. He develops arguments, marshals facts, and presents his critique of so much that is debilitating modern society - American - and through ill-thought out emulation, British and other Western societies.

Human society is usually mired in mediocrity with flashes of brilliance, but to actively steer participatory democracies into the dead-end of frustrated citizens, alienated voters, and dissatisfied workers is an act of supreme folly which even those snake-oil salesmen who peddled the concoction to the gullible could not have intended.

The optimism of the past has been replaced by a sense of despair and foreboding because of abuses of trust and directionless motion over decades which have resulted in a weakening of the social purpose and identifiable community itself.

Lasch was a truly brilliant purveyor of insight and a pleasure to read; where so much nowadays is verbose and circumlocutory, Lasch is focused on the fact and wastes not one word.

The late-Christopher Lasch was a brilliant essayist and a fine mind.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

When The Culture of Narcissism was first published, it was clear that Christopher Lasch had identified something important: what was happening to American society in the wake of the decline of the family over the last century. The book quickly became a bestseller. This edition includes a new afterword, "The Culture of Narcissim Revisited."

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