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.
- ISBN10 0061251356
- ISBN13 9780061251351
- Publish Date 3 May 2011 (first published 13 April 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Harper Perennial
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 304
- Language English