This brilliant new book from the author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch explores the tyranny of positive thinking, and offers a history of how it came to be the dominant mode in the USA. Ehrenreich conceived of the book when she became ill with breast cancer, and found herself surrounded by pink ribbons and bunny rabbits and platitudes. She balked at the way her anger and sadness about having the disease were seen as unhealthy and dangerous by health professionals and other sufferers. In her droll and incisive analysis of the cult of cheerfulness, Ehrenreich also ranges across contemporary religion, business and the economy, arguing, for example, that undue optimism and a fear of giving bad news sowed the seeds for the current banking crisis. She argues passionately that the insistence on being cheerful actually leads to a lonely focus inwards, a blaming of oneself for any misfortunes, and thus to political apathy. Rigorous, insightful and bracing as always, and also incredibly funny, "Happy Face" uncovers the dark side of the 'have a nice day' nation.
Smile Or Die
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`fascinating, very funny and wholly convincing ... A stunningly good a highly entertaining and alarming read' --Sunday Times
`invigoratingly aggressive and lucidly intelligent ... A fine, funny and angry book' --Daily Mail
'Thrilling, succinct and wittily written' --The Times
'A call for the return of common sense ... I can find only positive things to say about it. Damn!'
--Observer
`invigoratingly aggressive and lucidly intelligent ... A fine, funny and angry book' --Daily Mail
'Thrilling, succinct and wittily written' --The Times
'A call for the return of common sense ... I can find only positive things to say about it. Damn!'
--Observer
About the Author
BARBARA EHRENREICH is the author of fourteen books, including the bestselling Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. She lives in Virginia, USA.
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45 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By Victor Smart
Format:Paperback
Ever bought a self-help book that didn't deliver what it promised? Then Smile or Die (published in the US as Bright-sided) is for you. This is a forensic diagnosis of why boundless positive thinking turns our minds to mush, deracinates managers, and helps make us willing believers in economic bubbles.
Ehrenreich has several distinct strands to her book. She kicks off with her experience at the age of about sixty when diagnosed with breast cancer. To her amazement she stumbled across on an entire industry in the US devoted to presenting the disease as little short of the best thing that could ever happen to a woman.
Other chapters analyse how the school of mindless optimism was born with Mary Baker Eddy, fed the subprime scandal and has come to infect mainstream corporate management thinking. Anyone who has sat through a toe-curling session by a motivational speaker at a company off-site will chuckle in recognition.
Ehrenreich has evidently survived her brush with cancer without resorting to a whacky, manic outlook. And her book is far from down at the mouth. It is a good read, sceptical but sane, probing yet witty. There are especially amusing interviews with "positive thinking" gurus at various stages of derangement.
One gap is that she does not discuss cognitive behaviour therapy. This is successful in treating depression by eliminating negative thoughts that tend to reinforce themselves - at least the National Health Service, which now stumps up for the treatment, believes so.
In short, this is a book for grown-ups baffled by the credulity of others, and perhaps their own. A life-changing book? No, but its explanation of how fads have entered the mainstream will certainly generate a wry smile.
Ehrenreich has several distinct strands to her book. She kicks off with her experience at the age of about sixty when diagnosed with breast cancer. To her amazement she stumbled across on an entire industry in the US devoted to presenting the disease as little short of the best thing that could ever happen to a woman.
Other chapters analyse how the school of mindless optimism was born with Mary Baker Eddy, fed the subprime scandal and has come to infect mainstream corporate management thinking. Anyone who has sat through a toe-curling session by a motivational speaker at a company off-site will chuckle in recognition.
Ehrenreich has evidently survived her brush with cancer without resorting to a whacky, manic outlook. And her book is far from down at the mouth. It is a good read, sceptical but sane, probing yet witty. There are especially amusing interviews with "positive thinking" gurus at various stages of derangement.
One gap is that she does not discuss cognitive behaviour therapy. This is successful in treating depression by eliminating negative thoughts that tend to reinforce themselves - at least the National Health Service, which now stumps up for the treatment, believes so.
In short, this is a book for grown-ups baffled by the credulity of others, and perhaps their own. A life-changing book? No, but its explanation of how fads have entered the mainstream will certainly generate a wry smile.
66 of 71 people found the following review helpful
By Lady Vibart
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read 'Who moved my Cheese?'/ Authentic Happiness etc with makes happiness seem so easy to attain , just an attitude really, it is most refreshing to read 'Smile or Die' which comes across as a well researched and clear thinking explanation of how being a realist is more likely to succeed than the endless Pollyanism of Positive Psychology. I was totally enthralled by Seligman's 'Authentic Happiness' and its ideas,even though it didn't seem to work . It must be me, I thought. However, I realise that all emotions, whether joyful or painful, are markers that point out what is/isn't happening in our lives. In her thought provoking study, Ehrenreich neatly lays out the 'Quo bono' question? Who benefits from Positive Psychology ? Big business and the state! WHo pays for research into Positive Psychology? Big business. Why would they do this apart, from humanitarian motives, wanting to share the 'good' attitudes that got them their megabucks, with the rest of us? Well no actually. The writer points out the rather sinister lining behind the 'positive' facade, showing how brain washing under the Shah and in Korea meant that if you questioned the status quo, the poverty and brutality that existed you were spreading defeatism which was a punishable crime. She points out how financial realists such as Gelbrand, who ran the property section of Lehmans were already pointing out that they seriously needed to rethink their 'positive pollyana' attitude, as early as 2006. The CEO, fired him for being negative! She points out that anxiety and realism are tools that help us to survive rather than hinder us. That unchecked optimism that is not based on fact is an undesirable and often dangerous attitude. After all who would go to sea in a storm without safety rafts,flares etc and feel at ease... a child perhaps ?... Read more ›
50 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Barbara Ehrenreich is in danger of becoming an American institution. She's that rare thing, a genuine liberal investigative journalist, one who's prepared to put in the hours and do the legwork to get the story. You get the feeling that there were hundreds like her in the 60s and 70s, digging the dirt on corrupt politicians and exploitative business practices, but now they're a dying breed. So, more power to her elbow.
In her latest book she takes on the global `positive thinking' movement. Successive chapters outline the roots of positive thinking in the reaction to Calvinism, tracing its contemporary manifestations in multinational businesses, academia and religion (NB: to someone who had assumed that all US preachers were encouraging their congregations to strive for Armageddon sooner rather than later, it's actually quite reassuring to know that most of the big churches are in fact run by pseudo-businessmen whose main hook isn't Apocalypse now but a nice car soon if you pray hard enough).
The best chapter in the book demonstrates how psychology departments have come under the spell of so called positive psychology, even though the evidence for its value is weak verging on non-existent. Indeed, I'm tempted to say that in one short chapter she decisively knocks down the claims put forward by Martin Seligman and a host of lesser figures in any number of recent bestsellers. This is something else that sets Ehrenreich apart from most modern journalists - she has a deep and rigorous scientific background, understands the scientific method and clearly cares about getting it right.
You also have to applaud her conclusions.... Read more ›
In her latest book she takes on the global `positive thinking' movement. Successive chapters outline the roots of positive thinking in the reaction to Calvinism, tracing its contemporary manifestations in multinational businesses, academia and religion (NB: to someone who had assumed that all US preachers were encouraging their congregations to strive for Armageddon sooner rather than later, it's actually quite reassuring to know that most of the big churches are in fact run by pseudo-businessmen whose main hook isn't Apocalypse now but a nice car soon if you pray hard enough).
The best chapter in the book demonstrates how psychology departments have come under the spell of so called positive psychology, even though the evidence for its value is weak verging on non-existent. Indeed, I'm tempted to say that in one short chapter she decisively knocks down the claims put forward by Martin Seligman and a host of lesser figures in any number of recent bestsellers. This is something else that sets Ehrenreich apart from most modern journalists - she has a deep and rigorous scientific background, understands the scientific method and clearly cares about getting it right.
You also have to applaud her conclusions.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book
Anyone who has ever been bludgeoned into a near - comatose state by the 'positive thoughts police' will welcome this book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J.Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars
All should read this
I have long disputed the 'Think Positive' mantra and this book put into words what I could not. Well worth reading
Published 5 months ago by Ms. S. E. Squire
3.0 out of 5 stars
easy targets
I'll be honest I'm only a 3rd of the way through (I've skipped to the last chapeter in the hope of finding some balance in tone, before deciding whether to plough through) but I... Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. mason
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why you should read this book
A real eye-opener! As one reviewer said "Mindless optimism emerges as America's dark force, keeping people in their place, blaming them for their fate and preventing them from... Read more
Published 13 months ago by L
4.0 out of 5 stars
Timely analysis of the ideology of positive thinking
"Smile or Die" ("Bright-Sided" in the USA) is a beady-eyed dissection of the rise of 'positive thinking' - the belief that attitude affects outcome across a whole range of human... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Paul Bowes
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read
I just love the concept of this book.
The way that positive thinking is used by some people to spare themselves from having to listen to you, help you or really try to... Read more
The way that positive thinking is used by some people to spare themselves from having to listen to you, help you or really try to... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jodi-Hummingbird
4.0 out of 5 stars
read this, wake up and stop "hoping" for things to get better...
simple question - have you ever bought a self help book that failed? (are you now a millionaire since reading and using the book, have you lost weight, are you happy? Read more
Published 17 months ago by Gcrikey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding book but with at least one important omission
Having just finished Smile or Die and I have to say I found it a joy to read. It is impeccably well researched and written in a balanced, engaging way. Read more
Published 22 months ago by vincent ryan
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the final word but still worth a read...
Overall a good work, if not as revelatory as Nickel and Dimed. Sometimes, Ehrenreich states the obvious - the corporitization of religion, how the corporate sector has taken on the... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2011 by hermie wicked
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly one-sided, but often insightful
Overall, much of the book is interesting, entertaining and worth reading. At the same time, it's up to a savvy reader to remember that the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, has taken a... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2011 by Dr. Rob Yeung
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