Review: Consuming Desires: Culture, Consumption and the Pursuit of Happiness edited by Roger Rosenblatt

At a time when the power of consumerism drives not only the American but also the global economy, this is a timely and valuable book. Roger Rosenblatt, best known for his commentary for The Newshour on PBS, has compiled a stimulating and varied series of essays by mostly well-known writers like William Greider and Bill McKibben who ponder questions of serious contemporary relevance. From where does this rapacious appetite for more spring? And what is the predicament it leaves us in today when the environmental consequences of our unrelenting obsessions with buying and having are increasingly apparent?