Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them
Language: English
Published by University of Illinois Press, 2008
- First Edition
- Softcover
- New
Seller: Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd., Galway, GY, IrelandKennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd.
AbeBooks seller since February 27, 2001
Condition: New
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Add to basketItem description from seller
Seller Inventory # V9780252075186
- Title
- Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them
- Author
- Sandra K. Dolby
- Publisher
- University of Illinois Press
- Publication year
- 2008
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Soft cover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0252075188
- ISBN 13
- 9780252075186
- Edition
- 1st Edition
Understanding instead of lamenting the popularity of self-help books
Based on a reading of more than three hundred self-help books, Sandra K. Dolby examines this remarkably popular genre to define "self-help" in a way that's compelling to academics and lay readers alike. Self-Help Books also offers an interpretation of why these books are so popular, arguing that they continue the well-established American penchant for self-education, they articulate problems of daily life and their supposed solutions, and that they present their content in a form and style that is accessible rather than arcane.
Using tools associated with folklore studies, Dolby then examines how the genre makes use of stories, aphorisms, and a worldview that is at once traditional and contemporary. The overarching premise of the study is that self-help books, much like fairy tales, take traditional materials, especially stories and ideas, and recast them into extended essays that people happily read, think about, try to apply, and then set aside when a new embodiment of the genre comes along.
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Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd.
Galway, GY, Ireland
AbeBooks seller since February 27, 2001
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