Bright-Sided (31 page)

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Authors: Barbara Ehrenreich

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39. Susan Ferraro, “Never a Cloudy Day: The Link between Optimism and Good Health,”
New York Daily News
, June 17, 2002.
40. [http://www.templeton.org/capabilities_2004/pdf/the_joy_of_giving.pdf] http://www.templeton.org/capabilities_2004/pdf/the_joy_of_giving.pdf.
41. [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/a-big-donor-goe.html] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/a-big-donor-goe.html.
42. John Templeton Foundation, Form 990, 2005.
43. John Templeton Foundation, Capabilities Report, 2006, 77.
44. Freedman, interview with Martin E. P. Seligman.
45. Jane Mayer, “The Experiment: The Military Trains People to Withstand Interrogation. Are Those Methods Being Misused at Guantánamo?”
New Yorker,
July 11, 2005, 60.
46. David Montgomery, “A Happiness Gap: Doomacrats and Republigrins,”
Washington Post
, Oct. 24, 2008.
47. Daniel Gilbert,
Stumbling on Happiness
(New York: Vintage, 2007), 243.
48. Biswas-Diener and Dean,
Positive Psychology Coaching
, 229.
49. Sam Fulwood III, “Poised for Joy: Life Coaches Teach How to Be Happy,”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
, Feb. 9, 2008.
50. Sara Martin, “Seligman Laments People’s Tendency to Blame Others,”
APA Monitor,
Oct. 1998.
51. Seligman,
Authentic Happiness
, 50.
52. Brad Lemley, “Shiny Happy People: Can You Reach Nirvana with the Aid of Science?”
Discover,
Aug. 2006, [http://discovermagazine.com/2006/aug/shinyhappy] http://discovermagazine.com/2006/aug/shinyhappy.
53. D. T. Max, “Happiness 101,”
New York Times Magazine,
Jan. 7, 2007.
54. [http://www.flourishingschools.org/programs.htm] http://www.flourishingschools.org/programs.htm.
55. Max, “Happiness 101.”
SEVEN. How Positive Thinking Destroyed the Economy
1
. Michael A. Fletcher, “1 in 4 Working Families Now Low-Wage, Report Finds,”
Washington Post,
Oct. 15, 2008.
2
. David Leonhardt, “Larry Summers’s Evolution,”
New York Times,
June 10, 2007.
3
. Leslie Bennetts, “The End of Hubris,”
Portfolio
, Dec. 2008, [http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/19/Greed-and-Doom-on-Wall-Street] http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/19/Greed-and-Doom-on-Wall-Street.
4
. John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, “Is the U.S. a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?
,
”
Center for Economic Policy Review
, Aug. 2006.
5
. Carol Graham and Soumya Chattopadhyay, “Gross National Happiness and the Economy,” [http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html] http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html.
6
. Dean Baker,
Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy
(Sausalito: Polipoint Press, 2009), 3.
7
. Paul Krugman, “Lest We Forget,”
New York Times
, Nov. 11, 2008.
8
. Quoted in Karen A. Cerulo,
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the World
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 61–62.
9
. Karin Klein, “Wish for a Cake—and Eat It Too,”
Los Angeles Times,
Feb. 13, 2007.
10. Joel Osteen,
Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
(New York: Faith Words, 2004), 7–8.
11. David Van Biema, “Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mortgage Mess,”
Time
, Oct. 3, 2008.
12. Kevin Phillips,
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
(New York: Viking, 2008) 92–95.
13. Baker,
Plunder and Blunder
, 97.
14. Stephen S. Roach, “Dying of Consumption,”
New York Times,
Nov. 28, 2008; Phillips,
Bad Money
, 43.
15. Alan Zibel, “Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rise 40%,” [http://Washingtonpost.com] Washingtonpost.com, Jan. 4, 2008.
16. Steven Pearlstein, “A Perfect Storm? No, a Failure of Leadership,”
Washington Post
, Dec. 12, 2008.
17. Robert J. Samuelson, “The Engine of Mayhem,”
Newsweek
, Oct. 13, 2008, [http://www.newsweek.com/id/163743] http://www.newsweek.com/id/163743.
18. Steve Fishman, “Burning Down His House,”
New York,
Dec. 8, 2008.
19.
Larry King Live
, CNN, Nov. 21, 2008.
20. Jenny Anderson and Vikas Bajaj, “Merrill Tries to Temper the Pollyannas in Its Ranks,”
New York Times
, May 15, 2008.
21. [http://about.countrywide.com/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?rid=515497&pr=yes] http://about.countrywide.com/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?rid=515497&pr=yes.
22. Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, “Countrywide’s Chief Salesman and Defender,”
New York Times,
Nov. 11, 2007.
23. Adam Michaelson,
The Foreclosure of America: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream
(New York: Berkley, 2009), 260, 205, 261.
24. Michael Lewis, “The End of Wall Street’s Boom,” [http://Portfolio.com] Portfolio.com, Dec. 2008.
25. Fishman, “Burning Down His House.”
26. Jo Becker, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, and Stephen Labaton, “White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire,”
New York Times,
Dec. 21, 2008.
27. Julia Hobsbawm, “The Joy of Coaching,” May 24, 2007, [http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/31040/the-joy-of-coaching.thtml] http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/31040/the-joy-of-coaching.thtml.
28. Baker,
Plunder and Blunder
, 16; Eduardo Porter, “More Than Ever, It Pays to Be the Top Executive,”
New York Times,
May 25, 2007.
29. Robert Frank,
Richistan: A Journey through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich
(New York: Crown, 2007), 16.
30. David Lazarus, “Wretched Excess Rides High in Many Executive Suites,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
Dec. 29, 2002.
31. [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jack-welch-neutron-jack-flattens-the-bleeding-hearts748440.html] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jack-welch-neutron-jack-flattens-the-bleeding-hearts748440.html.
32. Fishman, “Burning Down His House.”
33. Ibid.
34. Eric Dezenhall and John Weber,
Damage Control: How to Get the Upper Hand When Your Business Is under Attack
(New York: Portfolio, 2007), 188.
35. Roger Lowenstein, “Triple-A Failure,”
New York Times Magazine
, April 27, 2008.
36. [http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/23/greenspan/#] http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/23/greenspan/#.
37. Paul Vitello, “An Evangelical Article of Faith: Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds,”
New York Times,
Dec. 14, 2008.
38.
Larry King Live
, CNN, Dec. 8, 2008; “When the Economy Gives You Lemons,”
Marketplace
, American Public Media, Nov. 26, 2007.
39. Uri Friedman, “Sales Down, So Firms Boost Morale,”
Christian Science Monitor,
Aug. 22, 2008, [http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0822/p03s01-usec.html] http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0822/p03s01-usec.html.
40. Patricia Leigh Brown, “Even if You Can’t Buy It, Happiness Is Big Business,”
New York Times,
Nov. 27, 2008.
41. Jodie Tillman, “If You’re Unhappy and Know It, Shut Up,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Jan. 29, 2008.
42. Cindy Krischer Goodman, “How to Survive the Economic Crisis: Be Positive, Proactive,”
Miami Herald
, Oct. 28, 2008.
43. Eli Davidson, “How to Get through the Recession with Less Depression,” Sept. 25, 2008, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eli-davidson/how-to-get-through-the-re_b_128971.html] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eli-davidson/how-to-get-through-the-re_b_128971.html.
44. “Tony Robbins, Life Coach, Gives Suggestions for Dealing with Our Shaky Economy,”
Today
, MSNBC, Oct. 13, 2008.
45. Dennis Byrne, “Facts You Just Can’t Believe In,” Dec. 30, 2008, [http://www.chicago-tribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1230byrnedec30] www.chicago-tribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1230byrnedec30,0,787857.story.
EIGHT. Postscript on Post–Positive Thinking
1
. Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee, “On Faith: Are You Satisfied with Where You Are Now in Your Life?
,
”
Washington Post,
May 22, 2007, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/05/18/DI2007051801202.html?tid=informbox] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/05/18/DI2007051801202.html?tid=informbox.
2
. Julie K. Norem,
The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak
(New York: Basic, 2001).
3
. Atul Gawande, “The Power of Negative Thinking,”
New York Times,
May 1, 2007.
4
. Ryszard Kapuscinski,
Shah of Shahs
(New York: Vintage, 1992), 89.
5
. Dubravka Ugresic,
Thank You for Not Reading
(Chicago: Dalkey Archive, 2003), 86.
6
. Pekka Pesonen, “Utopias to Norms: From Classicism to Socialist Realism,” [http://www.slav.helsinki.fi/studies/huttunen/mosaiikki/retro/en/centre-periphery/pp2_eng.htm] http://www.slav.helsinki.fi/studies/huttunen/mosaiikki/retro/en/centre-periphery/pp2_eng.htm.
7
. Ugresic,
Thank You
, 86.
8
. John Marks Templeton,
The Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness
(West Conshohocken: Templeton Foundation, 1997), 118.
9
. Carlin Flora, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” [http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto4738.html&fromMod=emailed] http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto4738.html&fromMod=emailed.
10. Donald Meyer,
The Positive Thinkers: Popular Religious Psychology from Mary Baker Eddy to Norman Vincent Peale and Ronald Reagan (
Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1998), 393.
11. Victoria Moore, “Promising You Can Have Anything Just by Thinking about It, It’s No Surprise
The Secret
Has Become the Fastest-Selling Self-Help Book Ever,”
Daily Mail
(London), April 26, 2007.
12. “Psychologist Produces the First-Ever ‘World Map of Happiness,’ ”
Science-Daily
, Nov. 14, 2006, [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm.
13. David Leonhardt, “Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. Well, on Second Thought. . .”
New York Times
, April 16, 2008.
14. Fernanda Santos, “Are New Yorkers Happy? Some More Than Others,”
New York Times
, March 8, 2009.
Acknowledgments
B
ook writing can be a lonely business, but in this case I was able to pull together a little support group of people who were also challenging the prevailing positive-thinking consensus: Barbara Held, Jim Coyne, Micki McGee, Heather Love, Richard P. Sloan, and, most recently, Karen Cerulo. We conferred at length by phone, e-mail, and at our jolly annual “negative lunches,” and I thank them all for sharing their ideas and keeping me up to date—especially Barbara Held and Jim Coyne, who took the time to read and comment on chapter draft s.
If he had lived long enough, historian Donald Meyer would have been a perfect addition to this group. I returned to his brilliant book
The Positive Thinkers: popular Religious Psychology from Mary Baker Eddy to Norman Vincent Peale and Ronald Reagan
again and again while working on mine.

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