When the Good Life Goes Bad

Name: When the Good Life Goes Bad
Price: 51.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9780252089152

The US and Its Seven Deadly Sins

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas, Michael Eric Dyson

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Paperback

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English

University of Illinois Press
24 February 2026

Religious ethics; Christianity; Social theory

The Seven Deadly Sins have become the seven markers of success in America. Lust, pride, greed, sloth, envy, gluttony, wrath—these once-condemned principles now guide people's pursuit of the good life.

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas examines how the Seven Deadly Sins have shaped the moral strivings and sociopolitical condition of American society and culture in the twenty-first century. Drawing on a multidimensional approach, Floyd-Thomas uses race, gender, class, and other lenses to break down the moral crises that define the American Dream. Her critique exposes the harm done by individual and collective practices of sexual objectification, capitalist materialism, wealth inequality, and technological hubris before pivoting to the rise of right-wing populism, white Christian nationalism, and the politics of cruelty. But Floyd-Thomas also proposes an ethic that emphasizes truth-telling, community engagement, and values rooted in humility, justice, and mercy—a new path for the US to overcome systemic oppression and create a more just society.

Evocative and ambitious, When the Good Life Goes Bad takes readers on a wide-ranging journey through US life and culture to explain what corrupted the American dream.

By: Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas
Foreword by: Michael Eric Dyson
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 481g
ISBN: 9780252089152
ISBN 10: 0252089154
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 24 February 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University and has served as the executive director of both the Society of Christian Ethics, the Black Religious Scholars Group and is co-founder of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. She has published ten books including Religion, Race, and COVID-19: Confronting White Supremacy in the Pandemic and The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture.