The world’s leading expert on psychiatric diagnosis and author of Saving Normal returns with a powerful critique of modern society’s collective slide toward insanity and offers a positive prescription for truly achieving a meaningful life.
Eighty years ago, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World predicted it would take 600 years to turn the American utopian dream into a nightmare of compulsive consumerism, bland uniformity, brain addling drugs, and subliminal thought control. In this provocative, timely book, internationally renowned psychiatrist Allen Frances argues that Huxley was wrong: it’s taken less than a century to reach this point of despair.
The Death and Life of American Sanity is Frances’ timely critique of contemporary American society and a thoughtful meditation on living the good life. Frances begins by examining the political, social, and personal problems we face—from the mass delusions that spurred Donald Trump’s rise to the spike in anxiety, depression, and prescription drugs to the generalized loss of existential meaning as we blindly pursue “happiness.” He explains how evolution has contributed to our malaise, and reveals how the misguided desire for happiness can be at odds with living a life of depth and fulfillment—which often requires sacrifice and the experience of the full range of human emotions, including both joy and disappointment. Offering concrete advice for overcoming our destructive primordial instincts, Frances reminds us that there is no “quick fix” for happiness, and outlines what each of us can do to lead the worthwhile lives we want.
Practical and wise, The Death and Life of American Sanity is a much-needed guide that teaches us how to live well—and how to avoid the “happiness” traps that are detrimental to our emotional health.
