Review of Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money (Hardcover)

There are many things this book does well. (In fact, everything this book does, it does well.) First, and most remarkably, it tells stories. Not only is the author brave enough to reveal his own financial foibles, he includes interviews with individuals who have suffered financial ruin and lived to tell the tale. The stories are striking in their variety and poignancy, and they are made all the more salient by Vyse's beautifully written prose. The author paints a clear picture of his subjects' various crises, so that each story--no matter how different it may be from our own--has a sense of familiarity. We understand that these are fellow Americans who for the most part have worked hard and played by the rules, and we can't help recognizing their humanity and vulnerability as our own.

Moving beyond the stories that open each chapter, Vyse looks not only at the internal, "psychological" processes associated with financial difficulty--such as the seemingly inexplicable tendency to overpay for items on eBay--but he also uses a broad lens to examine the social and political forces that conspire against our best efforts to stay ahead in the financial game. Rather than simply attributing the bankruptcy epidemic to "shopaholism" or endemic self-indulgence (as many others blithely do), Vyse weaves together hard science, cultural criticism, and macroeconomic analysis to create a disturbing image of our personal--and national--economic landscape.

Finally, the majority of Vyse's suggestions for not going broke are practical, common-sense solutions that almost every American can employ. But even in presenting his suggestions, Vyse acknowledges that there are larger forces which need to be addressed before a majority of Americans can enjoy financial security. Far from being a panacea, Vyse presents his suggestions as something of a self-defense strategy in a world where our senses and sensibilities are constantly bombarded, and our financial futures are bought and sold by corporations without hesitation or regulation.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in human behavior, American culture, economics, politics, or public policy--and to anyone who just wants a good, thought-provoking read.




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