AMERICAN MANIA: WHEN MORE IS NOT ENOUGH

Whybrow (psychiatry and bio-behavioral science, UCLA, and director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute) analyzes the American compulsion to "shop 'til we drop," by considering the roots of American culture as a laissez-faire, competitive, free-market economy. He also connects consumerism to America's immigrant temperament and to the biology of human craving and the reward system of the brain, ultimately offering a physical explanation for the addictive mania of consumerism. He concludes with a reconsideration of prosperity and suggests that happiness is more likely found in compassion and community than in acquisition.