Dancing with the Devil

"""What do envy, contempt, anger, and Schadenfreude have in common? According to Krista K. Thomason, we think they are the weeds in our garden, there to destroy life instead of encouraging growth. Thomason argues that this is the wrong way to think about bad feelings. In this accessible apologia, she offers up a defense of negative emotions. Using the work of philosophers like Mary Wollstonecraft, Nietzsche, and Confucius as a guide, she claims we should resist trying to control bad feelings and instead listen to and interrogate them. If we do so, we will discover that bad feelings can aid rather than inhibit a flourishing life. This is a book that skillfully convinces us to celebrate our wild emotions."" -- Myisha Cherry, author of The Case for Rage ""Anger, envy, spite, and contempt: You won't find many defenders of these 'negative' emotions in the history of philosophy or in today's self-help aisle. But Krista Thomason's humane and creative Dancing with the Devil incisively shows why we shouldn't try to squelch or even tame them. Join Thomason on an enlightening journey toward making peace with our 'wild' feelings.""-- Michael Cholbi, author of Grief: A Philosophical Guide ""Bad feelings have a bad reputation. We are surrounded by advice to let go of our anger, contempt and envy in order to live a more flourishing life. Krista K. Thomason's Dancing with the Devil, is a wonderfully written and well-argued book that challenges this conventional thinking about our negative feelings and makes a compelling case for the valuable role these feelings play in our lives. Drawing on an impressively diverse range of philosophical thinking, as well as insights from literature and psychology, Thomason clearly articulates the essential role that unpleasant feelings play in a good life."" -- Alfred Archer, Author of Honouring and Admiring the Immoral: An Ethical Guide and Why It's OK to be a Sports Fan"