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Barbara Ehrenreich

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Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World Paperback – January 1, 2010

by Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)

4.3 193 ratings

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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.

Print length

235 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Granta Books (UK)
Publication date

January 1, 2010
Dimensions

5.35 x 0.87 x 8.58 inches
ISBN-10

1847081355
ISBN-13

978-1847081353
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Granta Books (UK); 1st Edition Thus. (January 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 235 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1847081355
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1847081353
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.35 x 0.87 x 8.58 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,339,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #118,501 in Social Sciences (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 193 ratings

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About the author

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Barbara Ehrenreich

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BARBARA EHRENREICH is the author of fourteen books, including the bestselling Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. She lives in Virginia, USA.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

193 global ratings

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Randolph Griffin

LaLaLa!

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2022

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One of my favorite Authors. Too bad, we lost her to cancer this year!

Helpful

JeanneAH

Barbara Ehrenreich Book Review

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2012

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I have been an admirer of Barbara E. for a long time. She's a good writer and makes interesting things even more interesting. The book mainly deals with how the corporate, business, medical and religious worlds demand a "positive" attitude.. or else! Entertaining read. The only thing I was disappointed with was that this book had previously been released under another title .. "Bright Sided" and so I bought a book I had already read. I did like the book a lot, so I read it again. I do think it is a little sneaky for publishers...and Amazon.. to pull this trick.. and if they do they ought to advise the buyer about it.

45 people found this helpful

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humorous

An Honest Book

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2012

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I was ( and still am ) lucky to have encountered the title of this book through the Internet, and luckiest to have bought this book and have read it from cover to cover, even though I am a naivete and did not have much knowledge about the author. With her renowned talent and with the honest feeling she had from the beginning when she started thinking about writing a book about being "positive", nothing could go wrong. I was touched, toward the end of this best-seller, when I read, to quote, "This is the project of science: to pool the rigorous observations of many people into a tentative accounting of the world, which will of course always be subject to revisions arising from fresh obserbations." Our life, including( sad to say ) what she wrote, is ephemeral, and she knows it.

3 people found this helpful

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Sam Giancana

Frown and prosper

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2014

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Entertaining, well written and a sympathetic thesis. This is a great book for those wondering why they can't just grit their teeth and fake happiness. I am interested in this authors other works now.

9 people found this helpful

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Just reading

A fine perspective on a cognitive sinkhole

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2013

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Clearly a cut above. Ehrenreich continually entertains and educates her readers in this description of the dangers of magical thinking and unfounded optimism. The author, whose tone could best be described as constructively pessimistic, gives ample background and lets the proponents of positive thinking speak their piece (thereby giving them just enough rope...). Do not miss it.

8 people found this helpful

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Ironmonger

a necessary read

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019

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A must read for everyone convinced that this positivity movement isn't what its cracked up to be....
eyeopening and relevant

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2016

Very good

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2019

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good!

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Marina Pino

Recomendado

Reviewed in Spain on May 25, 2016

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Hola, el libro no es para mí, es un regalo y la persona que lo ha recibido lo valora bien. Gracias.

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Paul Leverenz

... critique of positive thinking and the soft underbelly of happiness research.

Reviewed in Australia on April 18, 2016

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A sound critique of positive thinking and the soft underbelly of happiness research.

Ms. Billygoatgruff

highly recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2010

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My background is that in January 2009 I had major neurological surgery. I was given a multi-bacterial, hospital borne post-operative infection which was badly diagnosed. Part of my face was eaten away by infection and my eye was also disfigured by errors during the surgery. The upshot is that I have been left grossly facially disfigured for life. The infection also utterly destroyed my hair. I was a very attractive woman before this was done to me. I have a number of complaints about the NHS doctors and nurses whom I have encountered, and it is not appropriate to air them here, especially a legal action is pending.

Amongst comments from inept medical "professionals" that have infuriated me have been "No you're not attractive any more and never will be again, but you should see it as an opportunity to develop another aspect of your personality" from a plain as a pikestaff registrar who resembled a giant poodle and unbelievably worked as a specialist in reconstructing damaged faces. And from the Lead Clinician plastic surgeon who had been partly responsible for this situation: "You WILL feel happier about you face......I have patients who look like you who are happy to be seen in public"

I have looked at a number of facial disfigurement websites and found them sadly lacking, and in particular loathe some of the suggested strategies for dealing with disfigurement. One of the more inept suggested that disfigured people subjected to unwanted, intrusive and sometimes abusive attention from strangers should see it as an overture to making a new friend.

Hence I have bought a number of medical books from Amazon.

I absolutely loved Ehrenreich's approach, which is based on her own experiences of being force-fed "positive thinking" clap-trap and a standard approach of treating a patient (in her case, a cancer patient) as a dim-witted pink-loving jerk. Well, let's face it, the only point of such control is to make the lives of the medical profession easier. I myself was a qualified lawyer before this illness was visited on me by NHS incompetence, and would never have suggested to my clients that they should be cheerful about their problems. It absolutely seems to be an approach only from the medical profession, and one cannot help but think its sole purpose is to make their lives easier. After all, it is always going to be easier in any profession to deal with some smiling nincompoop instead of someone who is asking relevant, educated questions that they are incapable of answering.

It was also interesting to see how the author ties this silly "be jolly and always think positive" into other dangerous waters, such as the fall of the economy

20 people found this helpful

Marand

Fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2010

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This is the book for anyone who has been forced to sit through one of those allegedly 'empowering' or motivational training sessions inflicted by the HR function or line management, especially in difficult times, only to sit there wondering how anyone thought that the time and money was well-spent. I found it to be a fascinating read.

After a brief introductory chapter, Barbara Ehrenreich's book starts with her experiences of the 'positive thinking' industry following her diagnosis of breast cancer. This was perhaps the aspect of the book that was highlighted most by the media when the book was first published but some of the stories are almost unbelievable. I know from the experience of my mother how infuriating it was to be told to "be positive" when she was angry about her disease and the fact that incompetence on the part of her GP meant she wasn't diagnosed until it was too late. The undercurrent that you have to look on the bright side, and see the positive, and that your recovery may be undermined by your own poor 'negative' attitude if you don't do so is pernicious. I was startled to discover that some cancer survivor groups have hounded out those whose cancer recurs lest association with such negativity might prove contagious. I frankly fear for the sanity of someone, as quoted in the Washington Post, who can say: "If I had to do it over, would I want breast cancer? Absolutely. ....".

Ehrenreich traces the origins of positive thinking to an aspect of Calvinist doctrine, later brought to the fore in the late nineteenth century by the Christian Scientist Mary Baker Eddy and others. She analyses the development of positive thinking through early self-help books promoting the idea that if you wish for something hard enough & believe that it will happen, then you will be rewarded to more recent, but no more sophisticated, motivational speakers and their books & DVD's. Some of the things she relates just sound barmy. This extends to the corporate training sessions that many of us will have experienced. She exposes the dangers to business of the cult of 'positive thinking' and the fact that all too often anyone who doesn't fully subscribe to the mantra is dismissed as 'negative' or having a bad attitude when they may just be more realistic. The final chapter of the book is devoted to the impact of unbridled positive thinking in creating the background for the recent financial crisis. Her analysis here I think over-states the position but it would nonetheless be difficult to ignore the impact of relentless positivity in creating irrational hubris in the financial markets.

There are certain parts of the book that are more a reflection of the US (indeed the sub-title of the book is "How Positive Thinking Fooled America & The World), for example the chapter dealing with positive thinking as manifested by US mega-churches. However the sections covering the application of 'positive thinking' to the business environment are just as applicable in the UK.

7 people found this helpful

Antonio

Reiterative

Reviewed in Spain on January 19, 2013

Verified Purchase

Same (good) idea over and over again. Good for an article to long for a book, no need for 200 pages

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