| Edition |
1st paperback ed. |
| Description |
x, 222 pages ; 21 cm |
| Note |
Hardcover edition originally published by Doubleday, 2005. |
| Contents |
Love it or leave it: Okay by me in A-me-ri-ca! -- What is the sound of one hand shopping? A koan for a gilded age -- Sesión privada: playmates; sunshine; despair -- Wildman: stalking the Brooklyn asparagus -- As it is in heaven: chicken wings of desire -- J.D.V., M.I.A.: Joie de vivre, missing in action -- Privates on parade: not folding your genitals into a butterfly means the terrorists have won -- Beach bummer: the loves of a cabana boy -- Morning in America: live from the isle of joy -- Martha, my dear: these are hands; use them -- I can't get it for you wholesale: the $20,000 skirt that was also a defibrillator! Just kidding, it's only a skirt -- Beat me, daddy: singing the log cabin blues -- Whatsizface: death in Venice, California -- Faster: none for me, thanks -- Off we're gonna shuffle: first prize: eternal life; second prize: eternal life in Scottsdale. |
| Summary |
In these essays, social satirist Rakoff journeys into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America, skewering overconsumption, greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism; our manic getting and spending have now become celebrated as moral virtues. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good-times-and-chicken-wings populism of Hooters Air, working as a cabana boy at a South Beach hotel, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core video shoot--where he is provided with his very own personal manservant--Rakoff takes us on a grand tour of our culture of excess, and comes away from his explorations hilariously horrified.--From publisher description. |
| Subject |
Consumption (Economics)
|
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Consumer behavior.
|
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Social status.
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Travelers' writings.
|
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Consumer behavior. (OCoLC)fst00876238
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Consumption (Economics) (OCoLC)fst00876455
|
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Manners and customs. (OCoLC)fst01007815
|
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Social status. (OCoLC)fst01123359
|
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Travelers' writings. (OCoLC)fst01155719
|
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United States -- Social life and customs.
|
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
| Cover Title |
Don't get too comfortable: the indignities of coach class, the torments of low thread count, the never-ending quest for artisanal olive oil, and other first world problems |
| ISBN |
0767916034 (paperback) |
|
9780767916035 (paperback) |
|
