Love, Inc. - by Laurie Essig (Paperback)

About the Book

"The notion of "happily ever after" has been ingrained in many of us since childhood--meet someone, date, have the big white wedding, and enjoy your well-deserved future. But why do we buy into this idea? Is love really all we need in life? Laurie Essig invites us to flip our feelings about Romance and see it for what it really is--an ideology that we desperately cling to as a way to cope with the fact that we believe we cannot control or affect the societal, economic, and political structures around us. From climate change to nuclear war, white nationalism to the worship of wealth and conspicuous consumption--as the future becomes seemingly less secure, Americans turn away from the public sphere and find shelter in the private. Essig argues that when we do this, we allow Romance to blind us to the real work that needs to be done--building global movements that inspire a change in government policies to address economic and social inequality"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

The notion of "happily ever after" has been ingrained in many of us since childhood--meet someone, date, have the big white wedding, and enjoy your well-deserved future. But why do we buy into this idea? Is love really all we need?
Author Laurie Essig invites us to flip this concept of romance on its head and see it for what it really is--an ideology that we desperately cling to as a way to cope with the fact that we believe we cannot control or affect the societal, economic, and political structures around us. From climate change to nuclear war, white nationalism to the worship of wealth and conspicuous consumption--as the future becomes seemingly less secure, Americans turn away from the public sphere and find shelter in the private. Essig argues that when we do this, we allow romance to blind us to the real work that needs to be done--building global movements that inspire a change in government policies to address economic and social inequality.

From the Back Cover

"Laurie Essig is inviting us to go on a romantic vacation; to get away from it all, namely, from the peddlers of the fantasy that we can buy or brag our way to happily ever after. Say yes! Form a new relationship, with connection instead of competition, meaning instead of money, and the real you instead of YouTube. Is there true love after romance? There's only one way to find out."--Lisa Wade, author of American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus

"Laurie Essig eloquently traipses around the globe, bringing us into the hunger for meaning and love. Love, Inc. demonstrates the ways that consumer capitalism creates the very needs it cannot satisfy."--Michael Kimmel, author of Healing from Hate: How Young Men Get Into--and Out of--Violent Extremism

Review Quotes

"Essig is a capable, companionable and brisk navigator of her material."-- "Times Literary Supplement"

"Recommended."-- "CHOICE"

About the Author

Laurie Essig is Professor and Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Middlebury College. She is the author of American Plastic: Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and Our Quest for Perfection. Essig has written for a variety of publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and she blogs regularly for Ms. Magazine.