We Have Met the Enemy

November 15, 2010

According to journalist and novelist Akst (The Webster Chronicle), modern life, particularly in the United States, resembles a giant all-you-can-eat buffet, offering more food, sex, credit, alcohol, drugs, gambling, and anything else that can be taken to excess than ever before. This is happening at the same time that long-standing social constraints on behavior, such as religion and tradition, are eroding. The result is a harder-than-ever struggle for self-mastery and control over one's destiny. Akst combines the disciplines of history, philosophy, psychology, economics, and literature in examining this phenomenon and inspires readers to view self-control in a positive light. Essential for all people concerned with their own overindulgences and with the future of society in general.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2010
In a book full of startling facts, this might be the most startling: of the 2.5 million deaths in the U.S. annually, something approaching half could be prevented . . . if people simply managed to lead healthier lives. But this isnt a book about living a healthier lifestyle. Its an exploration of the challenge of moderation in the face of freedom and affluence. The weapons of mass consumption, Akst calls them, are everywhere. We eat too much food, spend too much money, have too much sex. Its not that we lack willpower; rather, the temptations have vastly multiplied over the years. In the course of defining the reasons why self-control is becoming such a rare commodity, Akst examines our tendency to blame everything except ourselves, citing a woman he met who blamed excess weight on genetics, fast food, advertising, and high-fructose corn syrupall while polishing off two plates of waffles and cream cheese. It is this kind of willful self-destruction, Akst concludes, thats killing us in greater and greater numbers. A very thought-provoking and colorfully written book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)