The Good Life and Its Discontents

The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement

Robert J. Samuelson

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English

Vintage Books
15 November 1997

Political economy

A New York Times Business Book Bestseller

""Shrewd and optimistic. . . .

The Good Life and Its Discontents

combines first-rate analysis with persuasive historical, political and sociological insights.""-The New Republic

Today Americans are wealthier, healthier, and live longer than at any previous time in our history. As a society, we have never had it so good. Yet, paradoxically, many of us have never felt so bad. For, as Robert J. Samuelson observes in this visionary book, our country suffers from a national sense of entitlement-a feeling that someone, whether Big Business or Big Government, should guarantee us secure jobs, rising living standards, social harmony, and personal fulfillment.

In The Good Life and Its Discontents, Samuelson, a national columnist for Newsweek and the Washington Post, links our rising expectations with our belief in a post-Cold War vision of an American utopia. Using history, economics, and psychology, he exposes the hubris of economists and corporate managers and indicts a government that promises too much to too many constituencies. Like David Reisman's The Lonely Crowd and John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society, the result is a book that defines its time-and that is sure to shape the national debate for years to come.

""A smart, balanced epitaph for an era-with a few clues for what's ahead.""-Business Week

""Lucid

and

nonsectarian . . . Samuelson traces how the reasonable demand for progress has given way to the excessive demand for perfection.""-The New York Times

By: Robert J. Samuelson
Imprint: Vintage Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 133mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 383g
ISBN: 9780679781523
ISBN 10: 0679781528
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 15 November 1997
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert J. Samuelson is a columnist fortheWashington Post.He began his journalism career as a reporter for the Post in 1969. He is the author ofThe Great Inflation and Its Aftermath; The Good Life and Its Discontents- The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement;andUntruth- Why the Conventional Wisdom Is (Almost Always) Wrong,a collection of his columns. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Judy Herr. They have three children.