Overview

The Good Life is a deeply reasoned but entertaining polemic about how the notion of morality has been co-opted by the political right, as the culture increasingly embraces the shallow charms of celebrity, gives a pass when it comes to failings in the realm of marital fidelity, and lives comfortably with the notion that we are all driven, more or less, by greed and the desire for power over others. Mendelson, who is for gay rights, sexual equality, labor unions, and the strong regulation of business and finance, is decidedly conservative when it comes to personal morality. She believes that while the right manages to effectively portray its opponents as socialist slackers, it claims a moral superiority it doesn't at all exhibit, lacking, as she says, moral compassion, one of the essential moral virtues. Provocative, inspiring, and deeply grounded, The Good Life shows that while the moral life is a hard road, the more of us who recognize that it is out there to be attempted, the better our culture will be.

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9781408833674

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The very definitions of morality and goodness are nastily contested political flash points, and Mendelson, in a forceful but compassionate argument, shows how this has affected our culture. Entertainment Weekly Powerful, meaningful, and thorough... She is not neutral in her gritty analysis...Her style, clean and sharp and heavily footnoted, does not suffer minds 'immune to reason.' Publishers Weekly (starred) An extraordinary achievement that has no peer in this century and may well have none in the next Newsweek on HOME COMFORTS The bible of good housekeeping People on HOME COMFORTS Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food USA Today on HOME COMFORTS I couldn't put it down. Cynthia Crossen, Wall Street Journal, on HOME COMFORTS

QUOTES for Home Comforts: Mesmerizing -- and, in its own way, revolutionary Chicago Sun-Times An extraordinary achievement that has no peer in this century and may well have none in the next Newsweek The bible of good housekeeping People Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food USA Today I couldn't put it down. Cynthia Crossen, Wall Street Journal

The very definitions of morality and goodness are nastily contested political flash points, and Mendelson, in a forceful but compassionate argument, shows how this has affected our culture. * Entertainment Weekly * Powerful, meaningful, and thorough... She is not neutral in her gritty analysis...Her style, clean and sharp and heavily footnoted, does not suffer minds 'immune to reason.' * Publishers Weekly (starred) * An extraordinary achievement that has no peer in this century and may well have none in the next * Newsweek on HOME COMFORTS * The bible of good housekeeping * People on HOME COMFORTS * Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food * USA Today on HOME COMFORTS * I couldn't put it down. * Cynthia Crossen, Wall Street Journal, on HOME COMFORTS *

Author Information

Cheryl Mendelson is the author of the bestselling Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, as well as three novels. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She has practiced law in New York City and teaches philosophy at Barnard College. Her next book, on the subject of marriage, is to be published by Bloomsbury in 2013. She lives in New York City with her husband and son.

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