From Publishers Weekly Kaminer takes potshots at the omnipresent 12-step self-help groups that are threatening to put psychotherapists out of work. She dismisses the rhetoric and religiosity of the programs， finds their intimacy manufactured and their emphasis on "higher power" authoritarian. TV talk shows with true confessions by commoners and celebrities further debase the New Age movement， the author contends in a funny chapter. She also takes aim at Norman Vincent Peale， Werner Erhard and Shirley MacLaine accusing them of a related "Don't Worry Be Happy" approach. Kaminer， lawyer， journalist and author of A Fearful Freedom ， credibly portrays the sillier aspects of recovery groups and offers some good one-liners: "The Family that reveals together， congeals together." Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal If you have been purchasing some of the many recent books on codependency， 12-step programs， or recovery， you should buy this strong critique of the self-help movement. Kaminer， a lawyer and journalist， does not address the effectiveness of such programs; she explores their social implications， arguing that they encourage passivity， social isolation， and emotionality， attitudes antithetical to democracy. A distinctive and highly recommended title. For other critiques of the self-help movement， see "Alternative Titles" in "Making Room for the Recovery Boom，" LJ 5/1/92， p. 49-52.--Ed.- Mary Ann Hughes， Washington State Univ. Libs.， PullmanCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews