Consuming Desires: Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Author: Roger Rosenblatt, Jane Smiley, Bharati Mukherjee
List Price: $25.00
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ISBN: 1559635355
Publisher: Shearwater Books (June, 1999)
Sales Rank: 77,206
Average Customer Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 2 out of 5
Occasionally interesting
This book consists of a series 13 new essays by well-known writers on the topic of consumerism, together with an introduction by Roger Rosenblatt. About half the essays are sermons on the demons of consumerism and consumption. Mixed in with the diatribe are some interesting more informative pieces on such topics as competitive spending (Juliet Schor), youth consumerism (Alex Kotlowitz), ecology (Bill McKibben), publishing (Andre Schiffrin), and housework (Jane Smiley). Bharati Mukherjee contributes an Indian immigrant's view on consumerism, which hints at the lack of concern or comprehension about hyper-consumerism held by the population of one of the world's largest developing countries. If you are interested in consumerism (or preparing your own sermon on the topic), you may find some material of interest in this book.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Pap.
Roger Rosenblatt is a preternaturally shallow man, and in this volume he has assmbled more of his ilk to pratter endlessly on a rather simple minded notion: That people acquire things to fill spiritual voids.He's got some heavy hitters here, like WIlliam Greider, a man who proves that you can be a brilliant reporter and yet still be an idiot when it comes to analysis. Most of them are quite taken with their own ideas, and like Roseblatt think quite a lot of what they have to say.
But in the end it's all rather tiresome and banal.
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