Born losers : a history of failure in America
What makes somebody a Loser, a person doomed to unfulfilled dreams and humiliation? Nobody is born to lose, and yet failure embodies our worst fears. The Loser's history over the past two hundred years reveals the dark side of success, how economic striving reshaped the self and soul of America. From colonial days to the Columbine tragedy, cultural historian Sandage explores how failure evolved from a business loss into a personality deficit, from a career setback to a gauge of our self-worth. From private diaries, family letters, business records, and even early credit reports, Sandage reconstructs the dramas of real-life Willy Lomans. He unearths their confessions and denials, foolish hopes and lost faith, sticking places and changing times. Dreamers, suckers, and nobodies come to life, showing how the national quest for success remade the individual ordeal of failure.--From publisher description
Print Book, English, ©2005
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Ma, ©2005
History
x, 362 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
9780674015104, 9780674021075, 067401510X, 067402107X
55962264
Prologue: Lives of quiet desperation
Going bust in the age of go-ahead
A reason in the man
We are all speculators
Central Intelligence Agency, since 1841
The big red book of third-rate men
Misinformation and its discontents
The war for ambition
Big business and little men
Epilogue: Attention must be paid