Brooks's work seems like a useful departure from the usual happiness/self-actualization/productivity drivel that dominates the self-help genre, and I appreciate you putting it in context.
What's generally missed, I think, is how dangerous the modern self-help and recovery culture can be. Thirty years ago, the American social critic Wendy Kaminer published I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions. It's a strong critique of the modern self-help movement, as it pushes the thesis that its emphasis on victimization creates attitudes contrary to democracy. I wrote off Kaminer's more dire warnings at the time, but now they seem prescient.
Henry, is the book club still meeting and am I still in it? I haven’t seen any notifications.
Yes we are, schedule here. Paid subscriptions were paused for most of December but we just started again this week. https://www.commonreader.co.uk/s/shakespeare
There's a copy of Watt's book at the ever wonderful archive.org https://archive.org/details/improvementofmin07watt/
Thanks!
Brooks's work seems like a useful departure from the usual happiness/self-actualization/productivity drivel that dominates the self-help genre, and I appreciate you putting it in context.
What's generally missed, I think, is how dangerous the modern self-help and recovery culture can be. Thirty years ago, the American social critic Wendy Kaminer published I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions. It's a strong critique of the modern self-help movement, as it pushes the thesis that its emphasis on victimization creates attitudes contrary to democracy. I wrote off Kaminer's more dire warnings at the time, but now they seem prescient.
As you probably know, Smile's later edition of Self Help opens with a line from Mill's On Liberty:
“The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.”
I appreciate how explicit he made the political argument for self help.
1859 was a very good year!