A review by virtualmima
The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations by Christopher Lasch

3.25

Humanity has been stuck in one huge ideological pause for the past half century. People keep arguing about the same things as if they're new ideas and nothing changes except to shift back and forth. This cultural amnesia is a macrocosm of the amnesia of the individual, in which most people live hopelessly stuck in the present, as the futureless ahistorical human, constantly surprised by everything that happens and not understanding why they do what they do. But they are ahistorical only because they refuse to understand their place in history, and they are futureless because they refuse to think about how their present actions may affect the future.

While Christopher Lasch made a lot of accurate observations that are still relevant today, he's unfortunately stuck in the conservative mentality that led to the problems in the first place. He contradicts himself by simultaneously opposing capitalism and embracing traditional Western values. I won't deny that his criticism of the illusory pseudo achievements of American liberalism is warranted, but one must be careful not to assume this means conservatism is any better. It only means that liberals don't go far enough because they don't want to leave their life of comfort and privilege, because they are not truly as dedicated to social change as a radical who wants to destroy the system. Capitalism and Western culture need to be destroyed if humanity wishes to survive. Read this critically and filter out the bad from the good, as you should do with all books.