{"product_id":"9780679781523","title":"The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement","description":"\u003cp\u003eA New York Times Business Book Bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Shrewd and optimistic. . . . [\u003ci\u003eThe Good Life and Its Discontents\u003c\/i\u003e] combines first-rate analysis with persuasive historical, political and sociological insights.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday Americans are wealthier, healthier, and live longer than at any previous time in our history. As a society, we have never had it so good. Yet, paradoxically, many of us have never felt so bad. For, as Robert J. Samuelson observes in this visionary book, our country suffers from a national sense of entitlement—a feeling that someone, whether Big Business or Big Government, should guarantee us secure jobs, rising living standards, social harmony, and personal fulfillment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Good Life and Its Discontents\u003c\/i\u003e, Samuelson, a national columnist for \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, links our rising expectations with our belief in a post-Cold War vision of an American utopia. Using history, economics, and psychology, he exposes the hubris of economists and corporate managers and indicts a government that promises too much to too many constituencies. Like David Reisman's \u003ci\u003eThe Lonely Crowd\u003c\/i\u003e and John Kenneth Galbraith's \u003ci\u003eThe Affluent Society\u003c\/i\u003e, the result is a book that defines its time—and that is sure to shape the national debate for years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A smart, balanced epitaph for an era—with a few clues for what's ahead.\" —\u003ci\u003eBusiness Week\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Lucid [and] nonsectarian . . . Samuelson traces how the reasonable demand for progress has given way to the excessive demand for perfection.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47019836637424,"sku":"9780679781523","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780679781523_p0.jpg?v=1763606004","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780679781523","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}