Posted on November 4, 2009
Journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
In her new book, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism.
By Anis Shivani
In her new book Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (Metropolitan/Holt, October 2009), Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism from nineteenth-century healers to twentieth-century pushers of consumerism. She explores how that culture of optimism prevents us from holding to account both corporate heads and elected officials.
Manufactured optimism has become a method to make the poor feel guilty for their poverty, the ill for their lack of… more
A common sense approach to stopping unnecessary death.
A mother from suburban Hartford, Conn., had a life-saving drug on hand when she truly needed it. One evening last spring, she found her son, who had recently returned from an addiction treatment pro-gram, unconscious… more
Surprisingly, Ralph Nader says yes. Only… more
Mario Savio and the Free Speech Movement.
Mario Savio's place in American history is defined by the climax of the speech he gave as a 21-year-old student in December 1964, on the steps of the University of California administration building, at a… more
Senate Democrats in the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) finally squelched Republican boycotts and passed a version of the climate bill yesterday morning. Last week, Republican... more
While many pundits and political analysts are musing about what Tuesday's mixed bag election results mean for Obama administration, New America Media reports that "there's another trend... more
The House released a final version of the health reform bill. It has a public option all right, but not the robust version progressives were hoping for.... more
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Viewpoint
 By David Sirota
Trade and globalization—when not referencing blockbuster sports transactions or raucous street protests, debates over these abstract terms can give Ambien and Jack Daniels a run for… more
By Noam Chomsky · November 5
By Megan Tady · November 3
By David Sirota · October 31
Recent Articles
Jurors in capital cases must pledge support for the death penalty. By Diana Novak
Next spring, Texas will decide whether or not to become the first state to admit it executed an innocent man.
Cameron Willingham was put… more
A young Honduran activist was almost certainly tortured and killed by the military. By Jeremy Kryt
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS—Despite the intense repression that has plagued Honduras since the military-backed coup in June—including random beatings and sexual assaults by cops and soldiers,… more
Three parables for progressives and the Grand Old (Democratic) Party.
By David Sirota
A parable is defined as “a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.” In a world… more
No matter what prominent U.S. apologists say, the military takeover of Honduras was—and is—violent and unjust. By Jeremy Kryt
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS—Many apologists for the thuggish takeover of the elected government in Honduras still claim that what happened last June 28 was a “bloodless”… more
Why diesel engines and vegetable oil should become best friends. By Zachary Gonzalez-Landis
As frugal consumers demand more from their vehicles, and bailed-out car companies scramble to manufacture affordable yet eco-friendly models, some drivers are turning to… more
Is ‘heirloom design’ the cure for consumption? By Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin
As the middle-class daughter of a refugee mother and a Depression-era father, I grew up straddling two worlds. My parents could afford much more… more
The global justice movement evolves. By Christopher Moraff
When activists from around the world took to the streets of Pittsburgh in late September to protest the gathering of the Group of Twenty… more
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Cartoons
By August Pollak
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