EBOOK
About
One of Canada's hippest, smartest cultural critics takes on the West's defining value.
We live in a world increasingly dominated by the fake, the prepackaged, the artificial: fast food, scripted reality TV shows, Facebook "friends," and fraudulent memoirs. But people everywhere are demanding the exact opposite, heralding "authenticity" as the cure for isolated individualism and shallow consumerism. Restaurants promote the authenticity of their cuisine, while condo developers promote authentic loft living and book reviewers regularly praise the authenticity of a new writer's voice.
International bestselling author Andrew Potter brilliantly unpacks our modern obsession with authenticity. In this perceptive and thought-provoking blend of pop culture, history, and philosophy, he finds that far from serving as a refuge from modern living, the search for authenticity often creates the very problems it's meant to solve. Introduction The Jargon of Authenticity
One The Malaise of Modernity
Two A False Return
Three The Creative Self
Four Conspicuous Authenticity
Five Perils of Transparency
Six Vote for Me, I'm Authentic
Seven Culture Is for Tourists
Eight The End of History
Conclusion Progress, the Very Idea
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index.
We live in a world increasingly dominated by the fake, the prepackaged, the artificial: fast food, scripted reality TV shows, Facebook "friends," and fraudulent memoirs. But people everywhere are demanding the exact opposite, heralding "authenticity" as the cure for isolated individualism and shallow consumerism. Restaurants promote the authenticity of their cuisine, while condo developers promote authentic loft living and book reviewers regularly praise the authenticity of a new writer's voice.
International bestselling author Andrew Potter brilliantly unpacks our modern obsession with authenticity. In this perceptive and thought-provoking blend of pop culture, history, and philosophy, he finds that far from serving as a refuge from modern living, the search for authenticity often creates the very problems it's meant to solve. Introduction The Jargon of Authenticity
One The Malaise of Modernity
Two A False Return
Three The Creative Self
Four Conspicuous Authenticity
Five Perils of Transparency
Six Vote for Me, I'm Authentic
Seven Culture Is for Tourists
Eight The End of History
Conclusion Progress, the Very Idea
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index.