Uncovers the origins of communal celebration in human biology and culture. Although sixteenth-century Europeans began to view mass festivities as foreign and 'savage', the author shows that they were indigenous to the West, from the ancient Greek's worship of Dionysus to the medieval practices of Christianity as a 'danced religion'.
A brilliant and touching portrait of an atheist's encounter with the inexplicable, and her ongoing attempts to rationalise and unravel it
Intrigued by reports of poverty and despair within America's white-collar corporate workforce, the author decided to infiltrate their world as an undercover reporter, and learn about the problems facing middle-class executives. Her story is funny, and delivers a warning about the future that faces corporate employees everywhere.
Explores the tyranny of positive thinking, and offers a history of how it came to be the dominant mode in the USA. This book 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. It reveals the dark side of the nation.
America is a grotesquely polarized society and becoming more so all the time. This collection of pieces shows how the widening gap between rich and poor over the years has left the country increasingly divided between the gated communities on the one hand, and the trailer parks and tenements on the other.
Explores the tyranny of positive thinking, and offers a history of how it came to be the dominant mode in the USA. This book argues 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. It reveals the dark side of the 'have a nice day' nation.
Published for the first time as a Granta Books paperback: Barbara Ehrenreich's groundbreaking investigation into the roots of war, with a new introduction by the author.