First published 2011
Jane Velez-Mitchell reveals how Americans fall prey to systematic addiction across multiple fronts. Prescription drugs create chemical dependencies while fast food chains engineer obesity. Internet platforms trap users in cycles of gambling, pornography, and social media obsession. Television networks flood screens with violent content while advertisers push unnecessary purchases that fuel mounting debt. Velez-Mitchell argues that corporations, government agencies, and media outlets collaborate to create false promises about consumption and happiness. These entities profit enormously while ordinary citizens become enslaved to destructive habits. The author challenges readers to recognize their manipulation and break free from these patterns. She provides a framework for reclaiming personal autonomy and rejecting the systems designed to exploit human weaknesses. Velez-Mitchell frames her book as an intervention for a nation caught in corporate-manufactured addiction cycles.
Genres: addiction, business, politics, social-issues, non-fiction, current-affairs
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: call-to-action, social-commentary
326 pages · Hardcover · Hci
Content warnings: addiction, substance-abuse