The Politics of Trauma

We live in a therapeutic society that trivializes trauma. Every day, ordinary people confess their secrets to Oprah, Phil, and Geraldo. In every bookstore, shelves groan under the weight of self-help books that promise freedom from pain. Women who love too much. Men who don’t love enough. Buy a book, find serenity. Purchase a video, melt away your disease.

In late-twentieth-century America, there is no such thing as tragedy or fate. If you just eat right and exercise enough, you&...