{"product_id":"sham-how-the-self-help-movement-made-america-helpless-9781400054107","title":"Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless","description":"Self-help: To millions of Americans it seems like a godsend. To many others it seems like a joke. But as investigative reporter Steve Salerno reveals in this groundbreaking book, it's neither--in fact it's much worse than a joke. Going deep inside the Self-Help and Actualization Movement (fittingly, the words form the acronym SHAM), Salerno offers the first serious expos  of this multibillion-dollar industry and the real damage it is doing--not just to its paying customers, but to all of American society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBased on the author's extensive reporting--and the inside look at the industry he got while working at a leading \"lifestyle\" publisher--\u003ci\u003eSHAM\u003c\/i\u003e shows how thinly credentialed \"experts\" now dispense advice on everything from mental health to relationships to diet to personal finance to business strategy. Americans spend upward of $8 billion every year on self-help programs and products. And those staggering financial costs are actually the least of our worries. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSHAM\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates how the self-help movement's core philosophies have infected virtually every aspect of American life--the home, the workplace, the schools, and more. And Salerno exposes the downside of being uplifted, showing how the \"empowering\" message that dominates self-help today proves just as damaging as the blame-shifting rhetoric of self-help's \"Recovery\" movement. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSHAM\u003c\/i\u003e also reveals: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How self-help gurus conduct extensive market research to reach the same customers over and over--without ever helping them \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- The inside story on the most notorious gurus--from Dr. Phil to Dr. Laura, from Tony Robbins to John Gray \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How your company might be wasting money on motivational speakers, \"executive coaches,\" and other quick fixes that often hurt quality, productivity, and morale \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How the Recovery movement has eradicated notions of personal responsibility by labeling just about anything--from drug abuse to \"sex addiction\" to shoplifting--a dysfunction or disease \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How Americans blindly accept that twelve-step programs offer the only hope of treating addiction, when in fact these programs can do more harm than good \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How the self-help movement inspired the disastrous emphasis on self-esteem in our schools \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e- How self-help rhetoric has pushed people away from proven medical treatments by persuading them that they can cure themselves through sheer application of will \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Salerno shows, to describe self-help as a waste of time and money vastly understates its collateral damage. And with \u003ci\u003eSHAM\u003c\/i\u003e, the self-help industry has finally been called to account for the damage it has done. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlso available as an eBook\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Crown Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/26\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781400054107\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.46lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.04h x 5.30w x 0.64d","brand":"Steve Salerno","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44033763049653,"sku":"9781400054107","price":15.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_488b5846-ea35-4672-800b-57a271da4d53.jpg?v=1713885718","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/sham-how-the-self-help-movement-made-america-helpless-9781400054107","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}