TR Gaddis tears into Dale Carnegie Pt 2 ch 1

[Edward A Moore]

TR Gaddis tears into Dale Carnegie Pt 2 ch 1 (what do we worship?)

p285-6

"Behind was a veneered secretary  of anonymous century and unavowed
design, holding protected behind glass an assortment of books
published by the hundred-thousand,

treatises on the cultivation of the individual self,

prescriptions of superficial alterations in vulgarity read with
excruciating eagerness by men alone in big chairs,

the three-way lamp turned to its wildest brilliance as they fingered
those desperate blazons of individuality tied in mean knots at their
throats,

fastened monogrammed tie-clasps the more firmly,

swung keys on gold-plated monogram-bearing ("Individualized") key-chains,

tightened their arms against wallets in inside pockets which held the
papers proving their identity beyond doubt to others and in moments of
Doubt to themselves,

papers in such variety that the bearer himself became their appurtenance,

each one contemplating over words in a book (which had sold four
million copies:

How to Speak Effectively;

Conquer Fear;

Increase Your Income;

Develop Self-Confidence;

"Sell" Yourself and Your Ideas;

Improve Your Memory;

Increase Your Ability to Handle People;

Win More Friends;

Improve Your Personality;

Prepare for Leadership)

the Self which had ceased to exist the day they stopped seeking it alone."

ed