A review by mintyfreshsocks
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf

3.0

I liked the book, but found it a bit disappointing. I'd heard very excellent things about it, and it didn't quite live up to par. The writing is a little lackluster -- the authors aren't particularly gifted with prose, and the rhetoric was a little much at times. More importantly, I didn't feel like I'd learned anything by the end of the book. As someone who's been thinking about these issues for a long time, the book felt more like a righteous snobfest than something that really expanded my knowledge and understanding of affluence-related problems. I still enjoyed myself, because it's hard not to enjoy righteous snobfests that you believe in, but I wouldn't recommend it to people who are already well-informed about these topics.

However, I ::would:: recommend it to people who are just getting into these issues. It's an approachable, manageable book, and (despite the hardcore rhetoric) does have some good data and explanations.