Status Anxiety -- Alain de Botton, Paperback

"There's no writer alive like de Botton" (Chicago Tribune), and now this internationally heralded author turns his attention to the insatiable human quest for status--a quest that has less to do with material comfort than love.

Anyone who's ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor's Lexus had better read Alain de Botton's irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents explores the notion that our pursuit of status is actually a pursuit of love, ranging through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins.

Whether it's assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful.

Author: Alain De Botton
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 05/10/2005
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780375725357

Review Citation(s):
Ingram Advance 05/01/2005 pg. 120

About the Author
Alain de Botton is the author of three previous works of fiction and three of nonfiction, including The Art of Travel, The Consolations of Philosophy, and How Proust Can Change Your Life (all available in paperback from Vintage Books). He lives in London.