The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By [Hardcover]

Dan P. McAdams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0195176936 | ISBN-13: 978-0195176933 | Edition: 1

Who are we as Americans? What is our deep identity? How do we make a good life? Renowned psychologist Dan P. McAdams suggests that the key to American identity lies in the stories we live by. And the most powerful life story in America today is the story of redemption. On a broad societal scale and in our own private lives, we want first and foremost to transform our suffering into a positive emotional state, to move from pain and peril to redemption. American identity is the redemptive self.

Based on 10 years of research on the life stories of especially caring and productive American adults, The Redemptive Self explores the psychological and cultural dynamics of the stories Americans tell to make sense of who they are. Among the most eloquent tellers of redemptive stories are those midlife adults who are especially committed to their careers, their families, and making a positive difference in the world. These highly "generative" men and women embrace the negative things that happen to them, for it is by transforming the bad into good that they are able to move forward in life and ultimately leave something positive behind. Unconsciously, they find inspiration and sustenance in the rich store of redemptive tales that American culture offers - from the autobiographies of Massachusetts Puritans, Benjamin Franklin, and escaped African-American slaves to the stories of upward mobility, recovery, fulfillment, and release that come to us today from Hollywood, 12-step programs, self-help experts, religious stories, political speeches, business gurus, and Oprah.

But can all American lives find redemption? Some people seem unable to make their lives into redemptive tales. Instead, their stories show contaminated plots and vicious cycles. Moreover, might there be a dark side to the redemptive stories Americans love? While these stories can sustain a productive and caring approach to life, they can also suggest a peculiarly American kind of arrogance and self-righteousness. For all their strengths, redemptive stories sometimes fail, and sometimes suggest important failings in the way Americans see themselves and the world. The Redemptive Self encourages us to examine our lives and our stories in full, to apprehend both the good and the bad in the stories we live by. By doing so, we may fashion better stories and better lives for the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Making extensive use of his clinical studies, McAdams examines the stories of highly generative Americans-people with strong commitments to the well being of their country, community and family. A narrative psychologist, McAdams is not concerned with diagnosing his subjects or deciding whether the events they describe actually happened. His purpose, instead, is to understand why his subjects tell the kinds of stories they do, which makes the book feel more like social history or literary criticism than clinical psychology. "It is to the best-adjusted, most fully functioning, and most productive and caring adults...that I have turned to to discern some of what is most characteristic and problematic in American culture." McAdams draws on a vast range of sources to provide the context for this effort: Puritan confessions, slave narratives, Horatio Alger success stories, 20th-century self-help classics, developmental psychology, the lives of Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and Oprah Winfrey, as well as back issues of People magazine. Although the first half of the book, where McAdams argues for the existence of his redemptive paradigm, is repetitive, the second half is a delight, particularly his chapters on race and on nongenerative life stories. Sociologists and psychologists will undoubtedly find this book appealing, but McAdams makes complex topics accessible to the nonspecialist, so the book will likely interest anyone looking to learn more about American culture or McAdams's obscure branch of psychology.
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Review

"The Redemptive Self" by Dan McAdams is part cutting-edge psychology and part American history. Drawing on his rich research examining people's life stories, McAdams explores how successful people look back and describe their lives. He finds that the successful or generative life story is one characterized by overcoming adversity, connections with others, and a belief in the future. This common story is, in many ways, the story of America itself. It is the story we like to tell about our past, our leaders, and ultimately ourselves. McAdams constructs a compelling story of his own by drawing on philosophy, history, neuroscience, religion, and psychology. As with his other books, this is a great read." --James W. Pennebaker, Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin

"In a book that beautifully encompasses imagination and civilization, eminent psychologist Dan McAdams has fashioned a lively and persuasive account of the manner in which we Americans account for our lives. McAdams shows that our personal identity is founded on the stories we tell about our own lives and on our shared membership in the American community, which itself leads to a broad cultural story about enjoying an early advantage in life, being aware of the suffering of others, and transforming our own and others' adversity into an ever more positive future. The Redemptive Self is an elegant masterpiece that dramatically integrates psychology into the realm of human affairs - a memorable book that readers will recommend to their friends." --Bertram J. Cohler, William Rainey Harper Professor, The University of Chicago

"McAdams has produced a book that shows what is distinctive about Americans' stories--and what is wonderful and also not so wonderful about that distinction. It is a book that can be read for pleasure and insight by psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, and historians, but also by just about anyone who would like to know what it is that distinguishes Americans from others in the rest of the world. I recommend the book highly and with enthusiasm." --Robert J. Sternberg, IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, Department of Psychology, Yale University and Director, Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise (PACE Center), Yale University; Past-President, American Psychological Association

"Making extensive use of his clinical studies, McAdams examines the stories of highly generative Americans--people with strong commitments to the well being of their country, community and family...a delight, particularly his chapters on race and on nongenerative life stories. Sociologists and psychologists will undoubtedly find this book appealing, but McAdams makes complex topics accessible to the nonspecialist, so the book will likely interest anyone looking to learn more about American culture or McAdam's branch of psychology."--The Publisher's Weekly Review Annex

"[A] penetrating and fascinating psychological, sociocultural, and historical analysis of...America as it expresses itself in a comprehensive story that the author calls 'the redemptive self.'.... McAdams has authored a very ambitious book that succeeds in great measure."--PsycCRITIQUES

"...a readable, lively work by a skillful storyteller, and it has won the 2006 William James Award from the American Psychological Association for best general-interest book in psychology. The tale McAdams offers is as rich and nuanced as a fine novel...a tour de force, a model of how cultural criticism should be conducted."--Christian Century

"Dan P. McAdams' recent book, The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By, is a complex and inspiring examination of American life stories. The book considers some defining American traitsand shows how such beliefs help shape the personal narratives of many who have chosen to work toward the benefit of others..... [A] compelling, well-written work.... It invites personal reflection and a personal response. It speaks with its own narrative voice that is at once approachable and authoritative. [McAdams] has genuine admiration for these individuals and the life stories they tell, and he recounts their stories in a way that engenders this same admiration in the reader." --The Journal of Positive Psychology

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195176936
• ISBN-13: 978-0195176933
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #759,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Seller and Fascinating Book October 6, 2009

By C. Cilona

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By

This is a great book for learning about how good character in the American culture has been created over the years. A must read for students of psychology. Very happy with the seller too as the book was in great shape at a reasonable price.

0 of 144 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's Be Good as Well as Look Good. October 31, 2006

By Betty Burks

Format:Hardcover

We are taught in America that every individual is unique and special. The quest for distinctiveness knows no bounds today. We even look for our specialness in the terrible things which happen in life. In this new "age of enlightenment," we need to transform our suffering into positive emotionnal states, to move from pain and peril, even after our trust has been betrayed, to redemption. Mainly, we have to work through our sorrows, thereby transforming the bad and the good so as to move forward in life.

We may not all be able to leave something positive behind, but at least we tried, and that's what is most important. We didn't give up and wither away in our grief. I found (when Miran died in a fire) that weepingk sobbing, crying openly helped, but there is no way to bring our loved one back from the dead. Our goal should be to keep her memory alive in our hearts and remember the times she touched your heart and showed unconditional love, which children do automatically to those they trust. After a sudden, unforeseen dath of someone you love, you can and will learn to make adjustments to move ahead. You have to, you can't stagnate as others need your inner strength and outer devotion, too.

You can't keep that person alive in your memory as you must let go for your own self-preservation. God sent that preson into your life for a purpose. There is not one single individual we can hang on to forever, though we may want to with all our heart and soul. It's not meant to be. As we age, we change on the inside as much as the outer appearance. We can't all be beautiful on the outside as lovely five-year-old Miran, but we can be loving and loveable on the inside. The good and true inner self wins out. It shows in the eyes....

Although Emerson writes of "great men" and "genius," he directed his words to the everyday farmers, businessmen, and professionals who enjoyed the relative prosperity and the freedoms of living in America during the years leading up to the Civil War. The Emersonian self of idealism and optimism has its down side as he tries to portray the inner self as dark, secretive personnas; instead it controls out actions by guidance and inspiration. Freud believed that theres was no purity or innocence, no simple truth within. His thesis that the deeper, t he uglier it got. He was wrong. Not all of our actions are caused by sexual desire. We can control our urges or shameful secrets of the soul. He had an Oedipus complex, but that doesn't mean we all do. He was "pleasure" oriented and felt that the past cannot be undone.

We are a victim of heritage and our circumstances, which can be improved by effort. The American idea that everybody is above average comes from a Public Radio Show, Prairie Home Companion. The idea is evoked with charm and humor in Garrison Keillor's stories of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, where "all women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." That could cover all of the small towns in the United States and parts of the larger cities. It is not the American dream to look pretty and aim to be above average. We strive to be first class in every way and learn to overcome obstatles. Strong women are good at that, and always have been. He didn't mention that strong women can also be beautiful. All blondes are not dumb, and white hair give one a sense of destiny and determination to show their innate abilities to adapt. Life can be beautiful by the Sabres, a California men singers group from the Sixties. Read more ›