Selfie: How the West Became Self-Obsessed

ISBN-13: 9781447283669 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 368 str.

Will Storr

Opis

`Fascinating' Guardian `Brilliant' Evening Standard `Electrifying' Financial Times `So interesting I literally couldn't put it down' Sunday Times We live in the age of the individual. We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success. But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. Unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell? To answer these questions, Selfie by Will Storr takes us from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the selfie generation, and right up to the era of hyper-individualistic neoliberalism in which we live now. It tells the extraordinary story of the person we all know so intimately - our self. As featured on Russell Brand's Under The Skin podcast.

Recenzje

Far more ambitious than its title might suggest . . . Selfie illuminates much of what feels peculiar about the world in 2017 . . . Storr has put in a formidable amount of work, he is irascibly good company, and he has something approaching genius for marshalling his material . . . This could be a pessimistic book. In fact, its insights are timely and welcome Richard Godwin Sunday Times

O autorze

Will Storr is a longform journalist and novelist. His features have appeared in various publications, including Guardian Weekend, The Times Magazine, Observer Magazine, GQ, Marie Claire and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a contributing editor at Esquire magazine. He has been named New Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year, and has won a National Press Club award for excellence. In 2010, his investigation into the kangaroo meat industry won the Australian Food Media award for Best Investigative Journalism and in 2012, he was presented with the One World Press award and the Amnesty International award for his work on sexual violence against men.