The Secret, a book by a former television producer called Rhonda Byrne, professes to contain all that you need to know to be healthy, wealthy and happy, distilled from the wisdom of many thinkers over the ages. The essence of this secret is that if you believe hard enough that money, health or love will come your way, it will. Send your wants out into the universe, and the universe will send you the goods back. It’s this type of positive or magical thinking that Barbara Ehrenreich criticises in her book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World. She generally argues her case convincingly, using a good balance of the personal and research material. Some of it is eye-opening, laughable, infuriating.
If you are familiar with the author’s work, you will know that she is a prolific writer about social, cultural and political issues, including women’s rights. Her previous books have included Nickel and Dimed: Undercover in Low-Wage USA and Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. And in an interesting contrast to this current title, she has also written about collective joy, what she feels we really should be aiming for in life, rather than the pale, manufactured imitation represented by positive thinking.
Ehrenreich’s book has eight chapters, beginning with her own experience of breast cancer and the ‘pink ribbon culture’ she encountered, through business and finance, employment, religion and ‘the science of happiness’. She uses humour judiciously, stepping into satire when required.
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