A review by caffeinated_bookaholic
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman

5.0

It grew on me. Ultimately I think Trueman has a wide-ranging understanding of important philosophical voices, and provides several synthetic keys into developing a historical view of the rise of expressive individualism. The early chapters tried too hard to have "3 things that define this" and "5 eras which define that" type of thing. The second half where he really starts digging into more authors shines. Main takeaways for me were moving sex from an action you take to an internal identity, and a Marx-Freud combo making history a dialectic of (internal) oppression. His point about expressive individualism inhibiting rational dialogue at the end was really interesting and could use some unpacking.