Affluenza: How Overconsumption Is Killing Us-and How to Fight Back

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NEW EDITION, REVISED & UPDATED 

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. 

We tried to warn you! The 2008 economic collapse proved how resilient and dangerous affluenza can be. Now in its third edition, this book can safely be called prophetic in showing how problems ranging from loneliness, endless working hours, and family conflict to rising debt, environmental pollution, and rampant commercialism are all symptoms of this global plague.

The new edition traces the role overconsumption played in the Great Recession, discusses new ways to measure social health and success (such as the Gross Domestic Happiness index), and offers policy recommendations to make our society more simplicity-friendly. The underlying message isn’t to stop buying—it’s to remember, always, that the best things in life aren't things. 

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JOHN DE GRAAF is a documentary filmmaker who has produced more than a dozen national PBS specials, including Affluenza.

DAVID WANN is the author of ten books and a speaker on sustainable lifestyles and designs. He has produced twenty-five documentaries, several of them award winners.

THOMAS NAYLOR is professor emeritus of economics at Duke University, where he taught for thirty years.

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“Affluenza is a sober indictment of the excesses and sheer waste in our increasingly consumer-oriented society. We would all be well served to read the book and pass it on to relatives, friends, and neighbors in the hopes of creating a great public conversation around how to eradicate the affluenza pandemic.” —Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Third Industrial Revolution