{"product_id":"america-the-anxious-why-our-search-for-happiness-is-driving-us-crazy-and-how-to-find-it-for-real-9781250146052","title":"America the Anxious: Why Our Search for Happiness Is Driving Us Crazy and How to Find It for Real","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE 40 BEST BOOKS BY THE\u003ci\u003e NEW YORK POST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Editor's Choice pick\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eRuth Whippman is my new favorite cultural critic...\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ea shrewd, hilarious analysis.\u003c\/b\u003e\" --Adam Grant, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eGive and Take\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOriginals\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eOption B\u003c\/i\u003e (coauthored with Sheryl Sandberg) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"I don't think I've enjoyed cultural observations this much since David Foster Wallace's \u003ci\u003eA Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/b\u003eReading this book is like touring America with a scary-smart friend who can't stop elbowing you in the ribs and saying, \"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!\" If you want to understand why our culture incites pure dread and alienation in so many of us (often without always recognizing it), read this book.\" --Heather Havrilesky, writer behind \"Ask Polly\" for New York Magazine and nationally bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow to Be a Person in the World\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAre you happy? Right now? Happy enough? As happy as everyone else? Could you be happier if you tried harder?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter she packed up her British worldview (that most things were basically rubbish) and moved to America, journalist and documentary filmmaker Ruth Whippman found herself increasingly perplexed by the American obsession with one topic above all others: happiness. The subject came up everywhere: at the playground swings, at the meat counter in the supermarket, and even--legs in stirrups--at the gynecologist. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe omnipresence of these happiness conversations (trading tips, humble-bragging successes, offering unsolicited advice) wouldn't let her go, and so Ruth did some digging. What she found was a paradox: despite the fact that Americans spend more time and money in search of happiness than any other nation on earth, research shows that the United States is one of the least contented, most anxious countries in the developed world. Stoked by a multi-billion dollar \"happiness industrial complex\" intent on selling the promise of bliss, America appeared to be driving itself crazy in pursuit of contentment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSo Ruth set out to get to the bottom of this contradiction, embarking on an uproarious pilgrimage to investigate how this national obsession infiltrates all areas of life, from religion to parenting, the workplace to academia. She attends a controversial self-help course that promises total transformation, where she learns all her problems are all her own fault; visits a \"happiness city\" in the Nevada desert and explores why it has one of the highest suicide rates in America; delves into the darker truths behind the influential academic \"positive psychology movement\"; and ventures to Utah to spend time with the Mormons, officially America's happiest people. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat she finds, ultimately, and presents in \u003ci\u003eAmerica the Anxious\u003c\/i\u003e, is a rigorously researched yet universal answer, and one that comes absolutely free of charge.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRUTH WHIPPMAN is a British writer, journalist, and documentary maker living in the United States. She is the author of\u003ci\u003e America the Anxious\u003c\/i\u003e and her essays and comment pieces have appeared in various publications including the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e. She graduated from Cambridge University and now lives in California, where she is the proud mother of two little boys.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Griffin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50414827045138,"sku":"9781250146052","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cf7af380-e80d-4d21-9dae-223a2516eac0.jpg?v=1729387085","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/america-the-anxious-why-our-search-for-happiness-is-driving-us-crazy-and-how-to-find-it-for-real-9781250146052","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}